Full text of "Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television"

reference 
collection 
book 



KC 


s 





kansas city 
public library 
kansas city, 
missouri 



Nw^ 




From the collection of the 



z ^ 

o Prejinger 
^ Jjibrary 



t 



p 



San Francisco, California 
2008 



L»i »i r% 




RESEARCH • MANUFACTURING • COMMUNICATIONS • BROADCA^IllliS* TELEVISION 




fx 



A 



,. ,, You'll find more 

Sreer Opportunities 

alRCA 



U NUSUAL career-building openings 
await experienced 

ELECTRONIC ENGINEERS . . . 
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS . . . 
MECHANICAL ENGINEERS . . . 
COMMUNICATION ENGINEERS . . . 
COMPUTER ENGINEERS . . . 
PHYSICISTS . . . 
and METALLURGISTS 

Positions open offer lifelong career 
opportunities to men who expect 
more from their work than is pro- 
vided by an ordinary engineering 
assignment. 



RCA IS A GOOD PLACE TO WORK 

At RCA you receive recognition for 
your accomplishments. You work in 
close collaboration with distinguished 
scientists and engineers. You enjoy 
highest professional recognition among 
your colleagues. You have unexcelled 
facilities for creative work. The sur- 
roundings in which you work are pleas- 
ant and stimulating. You and your 
family enjoy outstanding employee 
benefits. Opportunities are excellent for 
advancement in position and income. 
Unlike "feast-or-famine" businesses, 
RCA has forged ahead regardless of 
war or depression. 



\1 



Immediate Openings in 
RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT DESIGN 

in the following fields: 



APPLICATION 



RADAR • MISSILE GUIDANCE • SERVO MECHANISMS 

ANALOG COMPUTERS • TRANSFORMERS AND COILS 

NAVIGATION AIDS • TELEVISION • ELECTRON TUBES 

COMMUNICATIONS • TECHNICAL SALES 

ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT FIELD SERVICE 



Send a complete resume 
of your education and experience. 
Personal interviews 
arranged in your city. 



Send resume to: 

Mr. ROBERT E. McQUISTON, Manager 

Specialized Employment Division, 

Dept. 119-G 

Radio Corporation of America 

30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York 20, N. Y^ 




RADIO CORPORATtOM of AMERICA 




VOLUME 12 NUMBER 1 



KCH • MANUFACTURING • COMMUNICATIONS 
BROADCASTING ♦TELEVISION 



JANUARY 1953 




COVER 

From his 40-foot perch on 
NBC's "Sky-Liff", a camera- 
man turns his television lens 
on activities around the base 
of the RCA Building in Radio 
City, Nevi' York. One of these 
camera units will be used by 
NBC in televising the Presiden- 
tial Inaugural on January 20. 



NOTICE 

When requesting a change in mailing 
address please include Ihe code letters 
and numbers which appear with the 
stencilled address on the envelope. 

Rodio Age is pufa/ished quarter// fay 
the Oeportmenf of (nformofion, Rodio 
Corpofotion of America, 30 Rocke- 
feller Plaza, New rorlt 20, N. Y. 

Printed in U.S.A. 



CONTENTS 

Page 

Sarnoff Says Transistor Will Have Profound Influence on 

Future of Electronics 3 

Folsom Says 1953 Will Bring Marked Expansion in Television ... 6 

Strauss Elected Director of RCA and NBC 7 

Millions Will Watch Pageantry of Presidential Inaugural 

by Television 8 

Transistors 9 

Religion and Science 15 

Production-Line Scenes in RCA Victor Tube Plant 16 

Radio Helps to Open Canada's Western Frontier 18 

fay Bruce Lanskail 

Frank White Elected President of NBC 21 

RCA to Build Manufacturing Plant in Spain 22 

Sacks Named V.P. and General Manager of Record Department . . 23 

Radar Helps to Modernize the Whaling Industry 24 

RCA Records have Improved Quality 26 

by H. ;. Reiskind 

Radar Development Simplifies Plotting of Vessel's Course .... 28 
by Thomas P. Wynkoop 

Our Small-Business Family 29 

fay Vincent deP. Goubeau 

1,892 Employees of RCA are Members of 25-Year Clubs .... 30 




RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA 

RCA Building, New York 20, N.Y. 



DAVID SARNOFF, Chairman of the Board 
JOHN Q. CANNON, Secretary 



FRANK M. FOLSOM, Presider^f 
ERNEST B. GORIN, Treosurer 



Services of RCA are: 
RCA Victor Division • RCA Service Company, Inc. • RCA International Division 
National BroacJcasting Company, Inc. • Radiomarine Corporation of America 
RCA Communications, Inc. • RCA Laboratories Division • RCA Institutes, Inc. 
RCA Estate Appliance Corp. • RCA Victor Distributing Corp. 




In making a picture tube for a television receiver, the kinescope is whirled rapidly while a graphite 
coating is applied to the inside of the glass neck and metal cone at the RCA plant, Lancaster, Penn. 




"The uses of television in education ore manifold." 



"Engineers are developing transistors for mass production. 



Sarnojf Says Transistor Will Have Profound 
Influence on Future of Electronics 



Chairman of RCA, in Year-End Statement, Sees New Opportunities 

for Continued Expansion of Television and All Phases of 

Electronics Based on Tiny Device the Size of a 

Kernel of Corn 



B, 



'rig. General David Sarnoff, Chairman of the Board 
of the Radio Corporation of America, in reviewing 
radio-television developments of 1952 and looking ahead 
to new advances, on December 29, pointed to the transis- 
tor as the latest marvel of science destined to exert a 
profound influence on the future of electronics and com- 
munications. Further development of the transistor, he 
said, will greatly broaden the base of the electronics art, 
enabling it to expand into many new fields of science, 
commerce and industry. 

Major advances of the year included continued ex- 
pansion and improvement of television; further refine- 
ment of the RCA compatible color television system; 
increased sales of improved radio sets, "Victrola" phono- 
graphs and records; and expanded application of elec- 
tronics for military, industrial and communications 
purposes. 

"In recent years a vast new field for exploration and 
development called 'electronics of solids,' has opened in 
the scientific world," said General Sarnoff. "So impres- 
sive are the developments, and so important the poten- 
tialities for the future, that scientists are acknowledging 
electronics of solids as one of the most dramatic steps 
in technical progress. 



"From this extensive research has come the transistor. 
In its present form, it consists of a small particle of the 
metal germanium — no larger than a pinhead — im- 
bedded in a plastic shell about the size of a kernel of 
corn. 

"The transistor has no heated filament, requires no 
warm-up period and uses very little power. Further, it 
is rugged, shock resistant and unaffected by dampness. 
These qualities, together with its very small size, offer 
great opportunities for the miniaturization, simplifica- 
tion and refinement of all instruments to which it can 
be applied. 

"Recognizing the great potentialities of transistors, 
RCA research men and engineers are developing them 
for mass-production and are studying the multiplicity of 
new applications they make possible in both military 
and commercial fields. Such applications appear endless. 
One example is the electronic computer which in some 
of its advanced forms now requires thousands of electron 
tubes. Eventual substitution of transistors will permit 
machines of greater versatility and utility, as well as 
reducing their size and the power consumed. 

"As a progress report, RCA scientists in November, 
1952, demonstrated some of their experimental transistor 



RAD/O AGE 3 



achievements to date," said General Sarnoff. "They 
showed a new basic principle in the operation of a 
power amplifier using only four transistors and no other 
components. Such a device will have many applications 
wherever sound amplifying equipment is used, as in 
radio, television and public address systems. 

"Among other developments which were shown were 
a tiny, all-transistor personal radio, a tubeless auto radio 
set, a television set using all transistors except one pic- 
ture tube, novel musical instruments using transistors, 
and numerous other applications of these new devices 
throughout the field of radio, television and electronics." 

Television 

General Sarnoff observed that television greatly ex- 
tended its service area and increased its stature as one 
of America's major industries in 1952. As evidence of 
the growth, he pointed out that television-equipped 
homes increased from 15 million in 1952 to nearly 21 
million at the end of 1952 — a gain of 40 per cent. 
At mid-December, 117 TV stations were on the air and 
construction permits had been granted to 135 others. 
He said that 47 per cent of the families in the United 
States have television sets in the home and more than 
65 per cent of the population is within range of one or 
more television stations. 

General Sarnoff listed the two most significant steps 
in television progress during the past year as the licens- 
ing of new stations, permitted by the lifting of the TV 
station "freeze," and the opening of UHF (ultra-high 
frequencies) for television broadcasting. 

"As a result," he said, "new markets will open as 
television broadcasting service spreads, and an indication 
of what may be expected is found in the plans of the 
RCA Service Company to open thirty-four additional 
service branches in 1953." 

In the international field, he disclosed, RCA has 
supplied equipment for fifteen television stations in 
Canada, Brazil, Cuba, Hawaii, Dominican Republic, 
Mexico, Venezuela and Italy. 

Color TV 

"Further progress has been made during the year 
with the RCA compatible color television system and its 
tricolor tube," continued General Sarnoff. "During 1952 
RCA and NBC engineers have been field testing color 
television standards evolved by the National Television 
System Committee, which is comprised of experienced 
engineers of the industry. When the field tests have been 
completed and the information evaluated and applied, 
the Federal Communications Commission will be peti- 
tioned to review the subject of color television and to 
set standards which will permit commercial broadcasting 



GROWTH OF RADIO, 
TV, AND PRESIDENTIAL BALLOTS 

Radios 

1920 400,000 

1924 3,000,000 

1928 8,500,000 

1932 18,000,000 

1936 33,000,000 

1940 50,100,000 

1944 57,000,000 

1948 60,000,000 

1952 105,000,000 




of compatible color. The field tests have also produced 
further evidence of the practicability and desirability of 
a compatible system for service to the public, that is, a 
system which permits owners of existing television sets 
to receive color programs in black-and-white without 
any change whatever in their sets." 

Television's Unpad 

General Sarnoff declared that television's great im- 
pact on American life was brought into sharp focus 
during the national political campaign, as TV played 
a vital role in presenting the candidates to the people 
and in getting out the vote. He said that historians as 
well as politicians will be busy for some time to come 
evaluating the full extent of the influence of television 
in politics, and evolving strategy for its most effective 
use in future campaigns. 

"Millions of people," he continued, "including count- 
less school children across the nation, will see General 
Dwight D. Eisenhower inaugurated as the thirty-fourth 
President of the United States. 



4 RADIO AGE 



"On the other side of the sea, the Coronation of 
Queen Elizabeth will add lustre to history. It promises 
pictures of splendor that will add to the dimensions of 
television in presenting history as it is made." 

Calling attention to the fact that throughout 1952 
the older arts, including radio, the press and motion pic- 
tures, felt the added touch of television, General Sarnoff 
added: 

"Each medium has stimulated the other to further 
improvement and greater service. For example, the mo- 
tion picture series, 'Victory at Sea,' produced for tele- 
vision by the National Broadcasting Company in co- 
operation with the United States Navy, has brought into 
the homes of the nation documentary proof of the defeats 
and the triumphs of World War II and the heroism of 
our fighting men at sea, on land and in the air. 

"The live-talent telecasts of 'Opera in English,' origi- 
nated and developed by the NBC, have provided a new 
dimension and significance to this field of entertainment 
and education. Among the 'Operas in English' have 
been, 'Amahl and The Night Visitors,' 'Billy Budd,' and 
'Trouble in Tahiti;' others being scheduled for the near 
future include 'Der Rosenkavalier,' and 'Suor Angelica." 
The public response to these live television programs and 
films has been gratifying and stimulating. 

"As further evidence of the creative efforts of the 
NBC in program pioneering, Robert E. Sherwood, noted 
dramatist, has been engaged to write nine original plays 
for television, the first of which is scheduled to be 
broadcast in the spring. 

"There is plenty of evidence at hand to show that 
television will by no means be limited to its present 
operations. The uses of TV in education are manifold. 
It may well be that the volume of business that can be 
developed in industrial television and electronics as well 
as television in education, will one day be larger than 
the volume of business now being done in the field of 
TV entertainment." 

Radio 

Sales of radio sets continue to increase, enhanced by 
technical refinements and attractive designs, General 
Sarnoff stated, with production by the industry of 9 
million new sets during the year. At the beginning of 
1952 there were 1.05 million radio sets in the United 
States, including 25 million radios in automobiles. 

Portable sets, because of their efficiency and con- 
venience, have gained in popularity and will continue 
to do so, he said, adding that clock radios and book-size 
receivers in light-weight plastic cases beautifully de- 
signed in a variety of colors have contributed to the 
novelty and usefulness of such instruments and have 
increased the public demand for them. 



Phonographs — Records 

The popularity of the "Victrola" phonograph and 
recorded music continued to grow, he said, and asserted: 

"Today there are 26 million phonographs in the 
United States as compared with 8 million in 1946. New, 
simplified and improved record-changers, smaller non- 
breakable records, new electronic techniques in record- 
ing, and attractively designed albums have all helped to 
increase the demand for phonographs and records. 

"The '45' records and 33V3-rpm Long Play records 
have spearheaded the advance. Among the new develop- 
ments in 1952 was the RCA Victor 'EP' (Extended 
Play) '45' record which plays up to eight minutes on a 
side, or a total of 16 minutes for each seven-inch disk." 

Industrial Electronics 

There are many new developments in industrial radio 
and electronics which will further enlarge the commer- 
cial horizon, he said, declaring: 

"For example, business machines, home appliances, 
highway communication systems, radar, electron micro- 
scopes, bottle inspection machines are some of the uses 
to which microwaves and electronic techniques have 
been applied. Industrial television will perform im- 
portant services in manufacturing plants, in aviation, 
transportation and navigation, in business offices, depart- 
ment stores and wherever seeing, counting, sorting and 
controlling are essential." 

Value of the American System 

General Sarnoflf said that the United States is for- 
tunate in having a radio-television industry made up of 
so many competent organizations. The keen competition 
among them, he said, spurs continued effort on the part 
of all and stimulates scientific and economic advances 
matched by no other country. 

"Here, private enterprise and freedom in research 
and invention, in engineering, production and service 
are the lifeblood of progress," he continued. "These 
competing organizations, through their individual efforts, 
give the United States preeminence in all phases of 
radio, television and electronics. For defense, this in- 
dustry provides superior equipment developed and pro- 
duced by American ingenuity and craftsmanship. The 
finest radio-television instruments and services in the 
world, and at the lowest cost, are made available to 
the American home. In achieving this, the industry 
provides employment for hundreds of thousands of 
people and contributes substantially to the high stand- 
ards of living enjoyed in this great country. 
{Continued on page 21) 



RADIO AGE 5 



Folsoni Says 1953 Will Bring Marked 
Expansion in Television 

Pirsidciit of RCA Foresees between 150 diid 200 New TV Stations Going on An- 

in Next Yeji\ Bringing About Fnv Million Additional Fannlies 

Within TV Proomm Serriee Ranffe 



X'^RANK M. FOLSOM. President of the Radio Corpora- 
tion of America, in a year-end statement released Janu- 
ary 2, said that between 150 and 200 new television 
stations are expected to go on the air in 1953, bringing 
approximately five million additional families within 
TV program service range. 

On the basis of this expectation, plus the replace- 
ment market, he said, it is believed that the industry 
will distribute approximately 6,250,000 new television 
sets in 1953. 

Mr. Folsom said that the annual "going rate" of 
the radio-television industry is now estimated at $5 
billion, and that analyses of market potentials indicated 
a continuing upward trend in 1953, with the industry 
rate approaching $6 billion during the latter part of 
the year. 

"Equipped with the greatest production capacity 
in its history, the radio-television industry is success- 
fully meeting the dual requirements of manufacturing 
for the national defense and the domestic market," he 
stated. "In RCA, this is largely due to the outstanding 
teamwork of employees and the splendid cooperation 
of suppliers. 

"While defense production formed the bulk of the 
industry's output in 1952, television continued to be 
the major factor in the civilian field. The 6,000,000 
television receivers produced during the year added 
more than $1 billion to the industry's gross income. 

"America's overwhelming acceptance of television 
as one of our most powerful mediums of entertainment, 
culture, and news is shown by the fact that, in the 
last six years, the public's investment in TV receivers 
alone amounts to more than $9 billion. This represents 
an unparalleled achievement. It involved the manu- 
facture and distribution of approximately 23,000,000 
television sets, of which nearly 21,000,000 are in use 
today." 

Mr. Folsom noted that along with television's 
growth, the public's interest in radio broadcasting "con- 
tinues firm," with distribution of 9,000,000 radio sets 
achieved in 1952 and expectation of producing that 
many in 1953. 

6 RADIO AGE 



"As one of the principal manufacturers in the 
industry," he declared, "RCA Victor produced as many 
radio and television home instruments in 1952 as 
Government allocations of materials permitted. The 
greatest demand in the television field was for 21-inch 
receivers. The public's desire for larger screen sizes 
is growing, and this trend probably will result in sub- 
stantial sales of 27-inch receivers by the end of 1953. 
In radio, the trend is to small sizes with high perform- 
ance. Miniaturization of component parts and tubes 
is enabling us to meet this demand in radio. 

"In the field of defense production, RCA made an 
outstanding record throughout the year." 

Attention Focttses on UHF 

Throughout 1953, Mr. Folsom said, the expansion 
of television service will devote increased attention on 
UHF (ultra-high frequencies). 

"While the number of VHF (very-high frequency) 
stations will continue to increase, many communities 
will be served by both VHF and UHF," he pointed out. 
"Still others will be served by UHF alone. 

"The rapidly expanding UHF television market is 
a direct outgrowth of RCA's experimental 'proving 
ground' at Bridgeport, Conn., where the practical prob- 

Antenna of first commercial UHF station in Portland, Ore. 




lems of UHF were solved and virtually the entire 
industry tested its receiver designs. Largely as a 
result of these experiments, the freeze' on television 
broadcast station construction was broken in 1952, and 
the entire broadcasting industry hailed the highly suc- 
cessful inauguration of the first post-freeze VHF station 
in Denver, Colo., and the first commercial UHF station 
in Portland, Ore. 

"The contributions of RCA and RCA Victor engi- 
neers in bringing television to these new markets in- 
cluded not only the design and construction of these 
transmitters, but advances in receiver design and the 
design and installation of new combination UHF-VHF 
antennas by the RCA Service Company. 

"Both VHF and UHF provide excellent telecasting 
service, but, because of the added frequency range, new 
dual receiving equipment must incorporate the best 
possible technical design. This type of equipment in- 
cludes combination VHF-UHF receivers, as well as 
conversion units for sets already in use. Our objective 
is to continue to provide excellent reception in the 
home at all stages of television's growth. In this con- 
nection, RCA has continued its engineering develop- 
ment of compatible color television as a future additional 
service to the public." 

One of the most significant things about the elec- 
tronics industry is its long-range capacity for expansion 
and diversification, Mr. Folsom said, adding: 

"In this connection, it often has been predicted in 
the past that the non-entertainment applications of 
electronics would some day produce a greater volume 
of business than radio and television. 

""While non-entertainment applications are still far 
short of forming the major output, the year 1952 
brought a pronounced quickening of interest on the 
part of different elements of the industry in an ususually 
wide range of developments in electronics for business, 
industry, and health. High on the list of these potentially 
important developments were: 

"1. Electronic B//siness Systems. Capable of tre- 
mendous savings in time, energy, and space, these 
systems can handle inventory, general accounting, and 
payroll functions completely and efficiently. They are 
expected to find broad applications not only in general 
business, but also in such specialized fields as Govern- 
ment, insurance, utility, mail order, and circulation of 
newspapers and magazines. The RCA Victor Division 
is presently constructing an electronic inventory control 
system under Government order for the U. S. Army 
Ordnance Corps. 

"2. Medical Instruments. To the list of such 
i Continued on page 201 



Strauss Elected Director 
of RCA and NBC 




Lewis L. Strauss 

Lewis L. Strauss has been elected a Director of the 
Radio Corporation of America and of the National 
Broadcasting Company. 

Mr. Strauss, Consultant and Financial Adviser to the 
Messrs. Rockefeller, fills a vacancy on the RCA and 
NBC Boards left by the resignation of Niles Trammell, 
on December 8. He is a Director of a number of in- 
dustrial enterprises and is President of the Board of 
The Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. He is 
a Trustee of the Sloan-Kettering Institute and Memorial 
Hospital in New York. 

Mr. Strauss was for many years a partner of Kuhn, 
Loeb & Company, before resigning all business con- 
nections to serve as a member of the Atomic Energy 
Commission. Commissioned Lieutenant Commander, 
U. S. Naval Reserve in 1926, he was advanced through 
the various ranks to Rear Admiral in 1945. He received 
the Distinguished Service Medal and the Legion of 
Merit for services in the United States Navy in "World 
War II. 

New RCA Victor TV Sets 

RCA Victor has announced its 1953 line of 25 tele- 
vision models with newly styled cabinets and a chassis 
that is said to be the most powerful in the Division's 
history. 

Outstanding in the line is the "Nassau", featuring 
for the first time by RCA, a 27-inch picture tube. Op- 
tional in all models is a l6-channel combination UHF- 
VHF rotary tuner designed for use in those areas where 
UHF stations are in operation. 



RADIO AGE 7 



Millions Will Watch Pageantry 
of Presidential Inaugural by Television 



JL ELEVIEWERS tuned to NBC will, in effect, be riding 
at the head of the Presidential inaugural parade on Tues- 
day, Jan. 20, 1953, when the network's five-hour telecast 
and three-hour radio broadcast carry to the nation a com- 
prehensive account of the change in the nation's ad- 
ministration. 

Four of the five TV hours, as well as the radio broad- 
cast of the historic event, will be sponsored by General 
Motors. The swearing-in ceremonies which will take 
place at noon at the East Portico of the Capitol, and the 
inaugural speech of President Eisenhower will be broad- 
cast and telecast by NBC as an unsponsored public 
service. 

Beginning shortly before noon, NBC will escort the 
inaugural parade from the 'White House to the Capitol. 
Other NBC cameras will scan the parade from a vantage 
point opposite the presidential reviewing stand in front 
of the Executive Mansion. This service will continue 
until 2:30 for radio, and approximately 4:00 for tele- 
vision. 

For the first Republican inauguration in 20 years, 
NBC will call in key personnel and latest model equip- 
ment from broadcast centers across the country. Fifteen 
fixed and mobile electronic cameras and 50 microphones 
will assist 25 reporters and commentators to capture the 
whole story of inaugural day. A news and engineering 
staff of 250 will work behind the scenes. Special mobile 
T'V units equipped with studio-type cameras and with 
NBC's new hand-sized TV camera, back-pack radio 
transmitters, a telescopic skylift to elevate cameras and 
commentators above the heads of the crowd, these and 
many other devices will be pressed into service on "In- 
auguration Day." Half a dozen film-camera crews, a 
complete film laboratory staff and rapid on-the-spot de- 
velopers will supplement NBC's live coverage of the 
parade. 

'William R. McAndrew, NBC manager of news and 
special events, will be overall producer of NBC's tele- 
vision coverage of inauguration day. Joseph O. Myers 
is radio producer. Charles C. Barry, vice-president in 
charge of programming, and Davidson Taylor, network 
director of public affairs, will supervise activities. 

NBC will coordinate its inauguration coverage from 
network studios in the 'Wardman Park Hotel in Wash- 
ington. There will be six different camera and micro- 
phone emplacements along Pennsylvania Avenue be- 



Llif(fniflTH 




-* .< ,( f 




Scenes such as this one at the East Portico of the Nation's 
Capitol, will be viewed on Inaugural Day, January 20, 
by millions of TV set owners from coast to coast. NBC 
will broadcast the ceremonies by radio and television. 

tween the White House and the Capitol, route of the 
inaugural parade. 

NBC technicians have been perfecting plans for 
"Inauguration Day" since the morning after the election. 
Every idea which might possibly contribute to a public 
service program of national interest has been developed 
and integrated into plans for the multi-hour telecast and 
broadcast. NBC officials have been conferring continu- 
ally with the Inaugural Committee to insure the most 
complete coverage of the ceremonies. 



8 RADIO AGE 




-TiRST demonstrations showing the scientific progress 
made towards harnessing the tiny transistor, which per- 
forms many of the functions of electron tubes, in a 
wide range of applications useful to radio, television, 
and industry, were held during the week of November 
17 at the David SarnofI Research Center of RCA, 
Princeton, N. J. 

Transistors made from specks of germanium crystal 
were shown operating an experimental portable tele- 
vision receiver, radio sets, loudspeaker systems, miniature 
transmitters, parts of electronic computers, and other 
experimental devices, many of which are believed to 
be the first of their kind. Each development was in 
the form of a laboratory model which, it was emphasized, 
is still in the preliminary and experimental stage. 

Appraising the present status of transistor develop- 
ment. Dr. E. W. Engstrom, Vice President in Charge 
of RCA Laboratories Division, said: 

"These demonstrations highlight the faa that tran- 
sistors are today no longer entirely a research concern. 
They are, in the fields of radio and television, an im- 
mediate problem for advanced development by industry 
engineers who can learn how to put them to work in 
evolving more versatile, smaller, sturdier, and eventually 
lower cost equipment for industry and the public." 

"We can report that transistors, after a brief four 
years in the laboratory, can be made to do many of the 
electronic jobs that tubes could do only after the first 
twenty years of their existence," Dr. Engstrom con- 
tinued. "Because transistors, many of which are no 
larger than a pea, have certain properties that differ 



Dr. E. W. Engstrom points to one of the ten types of 

experimental transistors developed at the David SarnofF 

Research Center of RCA. 

from tubes, we find there are some tasks they perform 
more effectively than tubes. Also of course, there are 
now, and always will be, applications where only tubes 
will perform. 

"We haven't yet worked out mass production tech- 
niques for transistors," he continued. "Although ger- 
manium itself is available, it requires careful processing 
to get it in the form that gives transistors their remark- 
able characteristics. Thus, the cost of even those few 
types of transistors that are available in limited quantities 
is still high. 

"Even so, a demonstration such as this would have 
been impossible a year ago, even a few months ago," he 
continued. "We are just at the outset of trying a variety 
of transistor rypes in operating circuits. As other new 
types of transistors come from the laboratory, providing 
greater power, operating at higher frequencies, and func- 
tioning with greater reliability, we will try them out as 
we have experimented with the types you see here." 

Dr. Engstrom said that RCA does not expect the 
transistor to supplant the electron tube "any more than 
radio replaced the phonograph." In fact, the market for 
electron tubes may even increase under the full impact 
of commercial transistors. "This is because the transistor 
will allow the development of electronic devices now 
undreamed of," he said. "Many of these devices will still 
require the work of electron tubes and in quantities that 
will continue to tax the manufacturing capacity of the 
electron tube industry. Thus, as transistors begin to re- 
place certain tubes in present electronic equipment, the 
displaced tubes will find new jobs in new devices made 



RADIO AGE 9 



possible by the development of the transistor." 

Dr. Engstrom said that the experimental equipment 
demonstrated represented exploratory employment of 
transistors in many phases of electronics and that the 
items were laboratory models in a research stage. Neither 
the transistors nor their applications are yet in commercial 
form, he pointed out. 

Among the experimental equipment shown was a 
portable, battery-operated television receiver, tubeless ex- 
cept for the picture tube. In its initial form, it is a one- 
channel set with a five-inch screen. In another approach, 
transistors were introduced in part of the circuits of a 
standard television receiver. Transistors were also em- 
ployed in circuits of industrial television equipment and 
the "Walkie-Lookie" portable TV camera equipment to 
point up savings in weight, size, and power consumption. 

In the radio field, all-transistor AM, FM, and auto- 
mobile radio receivers were demonstrated. These explora- 
tory applications already point the way to new compact- 
ness and much lower battery drain than receivers require 
today. The automobile radio operating with transistors 
directly off the 6-volt battery of a car eliminates the 
relatively costly high-voltage power supply common to 
present-day automobile sets and enables more than a 
ten-fold reduction in battery drain. 

Also demonstrated was a small portable 45-rpm 
phonograph with a self-contained transistor amplifier 
and battery supply. Another transistor amplifier circuit 
was displayed in a portable public address system with 
self-contained battery supply. 

A transformerless transistor power amplifier, an en- 
tirely new kind of circuit that may have considerable 
significance in the design of radio and television receivers, 
was displayed and operated. The experimental power 
amplifier circuit consists of nothing but four transistors 
mounted in a small tube socket. For many audio applica- 
tions it appears that such a device, which harnesses a 
unique transistor characteristic known as complementary 
symmetry, can do the job that now requires two or more 
tubes, an output transformer, a phase inverter, and other 
components to amplify audio signals into a loudspeaker. 

Battery Operates Transmitter for 3.000 Hours 

Tiny radio transmitters employing transistors as os- 
cillators were demonstrated to suggest possible applica- 
tions in other fields. One was a 2-cubic-inch unit which 
will operate off its button-sized battery for 3,000 hours 
in "transmitting" the output of a phonograph pickup to 
a nearby radio receiver. Another was a cigar-sized micro- 
phone-transmitter using one transistor which points the 
way to a simple public address system, using any radio re- 
ceiver as the amplifier. 

Two transistorized sections of modern electronic com- 



puters, a counter and an adder, were operated to show 
how transistors can do at least as good a job as tubes in 
such circuits and at the same time offer great advantages 
in size, reliability and power consumption. 

Two examples of how transistors might be practical 
in musical devices were also displayed. One was an eight- 
note transistor "piano" the oscillations from which were 
picked up and "played" by a standard radio receiver. 
The other was an electronic ukulele, working on the same 
principles as an electric guitar, except that the compact- 
ness and low-power requirements of transistors enable the 
amplifier and loudspeaker to be self-contained within 
the instrument itself. 

Ten Transistor Types Used 

Dr. Engstrom explained that the equipment made use 
of ten types of RCA developmental and experimental 
transistors, three of the point-contact variety and seven of 
the junction transistor family. The three point-contact 
types and one of the junction types will be offered on a 
limited sampling basis for engineering advanced develop- 
ment to industry representatives attending the week's 
conferences. The other six junction types are still under 
research and are classed as experimental, he said. 

The three kinds of developmental point-contact trans- 
istors used in the RCA demonstrations are a general 
purpose switching type, a high-frequency amplifier and 
a very-high-frequency oscillator. The one developmental 
junction transistor is a general purpose amplifier of p-n-p 
( positive-negative-positive ) construction. 

Dr. Engstrom explained that junction transistors are 
classed p-n-p or n-p-n depending on their design. He 
said that an n-p-n transistor provides, as does an electron 
tube, negative charges in a circuit, while the p-n-p has 
the effect of providing positive charges, thus giving circuit 
potentialities unobtainable with tubes, an example of 
which is the transformerless transistor power amplifier 
described earlier. 

The six RCA experimental junction types are an 
extension of both p-n-p and n-p-n design into greater 
power-handling capabilities, higher frequency response 
and other desirable characteristics. The "power" trans- 
istors in this group are somewhat larger than earlier 
types since they are constructed to dissipate the heat that 
transistors may generate when operated at higher power. 

Dr. Engstrom emphasized that transistors are not in- 
terchangeable with present tubes in the sense that a tube 
from an existing instrument can be pulled out and a 
transistor substituted. New circuitry must be developed, 
he explained, in order to take full advantage of the 
special characteristics of transistors and, to fully realize 
space- and weight-saving possibilities which they open 
up, new components will also have to be designed. 



70 RADIO AGE 



Portable public address system. This experimental ^^ 
amplifier delivers 1.4 watts to a 12-inch speaker and 
operates off a 2216-voit battery supply with an estimated 
life of 25-50 hours. The amplifier uses six developmental 
and experimental junction transistors. Smaller dimensions 
than those of the amplifier demonstrated ( 18 x 13'/2 x 
91-4 inches) are feasible, if a smaller speaker and or 
battery supply are used. 

Personal radio transistorized except for one tube. 
To solve initial circuit problems in small, portable radio 
receivers, this personal radio was built in a standard per- 
sonal receiver case retaining the first tube ( converter ) but 
using junction transistors in all other circuits. The ex- 
perimental set maintains the performance of a standard 
all-tube receiver. Use of transistors enabled a three-fold 
reduction in the size, weight and cost of the batteries 
without reducing the standard 100-hour operating life. 

All-transistor personal radio. Employs nine de- 
velopmental and experimental junction transistors. It has ^^ 
not yet been engineered for smallest possible size. In this 
AM-band transistor receiver, it is possible to get standard 
100-hour battery life with five small batteries each about 
the size of a checker piece. All-transistor operation allows 
an even greater reduction in the size and weight of the 
power supply than enabled in the one-tube set above. 

Portable FAl receiver. To gain experience in the 
circuit operation of transistors in the VHF band, an 
FM receiver (88-108 megacycles) was built. Uses 11 
developmental and experimental transistors, both junction 
and point contact. One developmental point-contact 
transistor is used as an oscillator operating in the region 
of 100 megacycles. 

The experimental model is completely portable with 
self-contained battery supply and weighs five pounds, ap- 
proximately half the weight of an FM receiver using 
tubes. In its present preliminary form, the transistor set 
is not as sensitive as a standard tube FM set. 

Transistor automobile radio. This experimental re- 
ceiver employs eleven developmental and experimental ^w 
junction transistors to provide an audio output com- 
parable to that of present-day automobile radio receivers. 
It has been designed with push-button tuning. An im- 
portant feature of this all-transistor set is the elimination 
of the high-voltage power supply common to present 
auto receivers. This power supply, comprising a vibrator, 
transformer and rectifier, which are a substantial fraction 
of the total cost of the set, is not necessary in a transistor 
receiver since the transistors operate directly off the six- 
volt automobile battery. 

This experimental receiver uses one-tenth the cur- 
rent of present auto sets. In fact, the transistor receiver 
itself needs no more current than is necessary to operate 
the two dial lights. 

RADIO AGE 11 





Transistor portable phonograph. While investi- 
gating the possibilities for transistors in the phonograph 
field, a lightweight, spring-driven, 45-rpm portable 
model employing a battery-operated transistor amplifier 
was built. The low power consumption of the four de- 
velopmental junction transistors enables a 22l/2-volt 
battery to provide for approximately 1,500 record play- 
ings (75 hours of operation). An internal switch 
automatically turns off the amplifier circuit when a 
record is not playing. 



Wireless phonograph -jack. A tiny radio transmit- 
ter, employing one developmental junction transistor and 
a few other simple components, has been constructed to 
feed the signal from a phonograph pick-up to a standard 
AM receiver. This 2-cubic-inch transmitter is effective 
two feet away. Its button-sized power supply, a 1.35- 
volt battery, enables an operating life of approximately 
3,000 hours. Such a device could permit the use of a 
record player with radios that have no phonograph con- 
nection. 



Roving microphone. This cigar-size experimental 
transmitter is modulated by a tiny built-in dynamic 
microphone instead of a phonograph pick-up, as in the 
application above. It employs two developmental junc- 
tion transistors and a larger battery. It was made to 
explore the transistor possibilities of a low-cost wireless 
microphone-transmitter, the signal from which is picked 
up and amplified by any broadcast-band radio receiver. 
Its transmissions are effective within a radius of 25 feet. 




Transistor ukulele. This device is similar in prin- 
ciple to an electric guitar except that transistors enable a 
small amplifier that can be completely contained in the 
ukulele itself. Four developmental and experimental 
junction transistors are used in the amplifier, the speaker 
of which is mounted in the hole of the ukulele. The 
self-contained battery allows a life of more than 10 hours. 
A magnetic pick-up transfers the vibration of the strings 
to the amplifier. Unusually sustained notes can be ob- 
tained because of feedback provided by the close proxim- 
ity of the speaker to the strings. The transistor am- 
plifier and battery supply increase the weight of a 
one-pound ukulele to about four pounds. A similar 
device appears feasible for any string instrument. 

?2 RADIO AGE 



Transformerless power amplifier. This entirely a^^ 
new kind of power amplifier assembly consists in one of 
its experimental forms of nothing but four developmen- 
tal and experimental junction transistors mounted on a 
small tube socket. The transistors used in this experi- 
mental circuit are pairs of p-n-p and n-p-n transistors 
in tandem operation, utilizing unique transistor char- 
acteristics known as complementary symmetry. For 
many audio applications in radio, television and other 
sound reproduction equipment it appears that such 
a device can do the job that now requires two or more 
tubes, a phase inverter, an output transformer, and 
other components to amplify audio signals into a loud- 
speaker. The same principle of complementary symmetry 
has been used in the audio amplifier circuits of the ex- 
perimental portable TV receiver, the FM receiver, and 
the transistor ukulele described here. The principle is 
also employed in the vertical deflection circuit of the 
portable TV set. 

Transistor application in RCA "W alkie-Lookie" . ^^ 
Since "Walkie-Lookie" TV equipment must be com- 
pletely portable (at present the back-pack unit weighs 
50 pounds), weight, size and power drain on the self- 
contained batteries are extremely important considera- 
tions. Initial employment of 17 developmental point- 
contact transistors in four circuits reduces power con- 
sumption of the back-pack unit by more than one-third, 
promising reductions in battery size and weight. By 
transistorizing more than half of the tubes in the unit, 
it should be possible to cut total power consumption 
and over-all volume by at least 50%. 

Transistor adder. Another important element of a 
computer is an electronic adder. Developmental point- 
contact transistors in this experimental adder enabled 
100,000 additions per second. The transistor adder re- 
quires one-quarter the power, and it enables a unit 
one-seventh the size and one-fifth the weight of a com- 
parable unit using tubes. 

Transistor counter. The application of transistors ^^ 
to electronic computers in which thousands of electron 
tubes are now used has been anticipated for some time 
because of the transistor's promise of smaller size, lower 
power, less heating, and eventually lower cost. An 
electronic counter is a standard element of many com- 
puters and radioactivity measuring devices. The ex- 
perimental transistor counter, which utilizes 66 develop- 
mental point-contact transistors, is capable of a million 
individual counting actions per second. The transistor 
counter requires 2 watts of power while a counter doing 
the same job with tubes would consume 60 watts. 
Weight of the transistor counter is V2 pound as against 
4 pounds; size, 20 cubic inches as against 200 cubic 
inches for a tube counter. 

RADIO AGE 13 







Transistor applications in industrial television 
equipment. Study of partial introduction of transistors 
into the control ( monitor ) unit of industrial television 
equipment was initiated to find ways of reducing 
weight, size, power consumption and circuit complexity 
in this type of semi-portable, closed-circuit television 
equipment. With eight RCA developmental point- 
contact transistors used in the synchronizing generator 
circuit to do the job of three double triodes and four 
transformers, the initial result is a three-fold reduction 
of the size of this component and a ten-fold reduction 
in its power consumption. 

Transistor applications in a standard TV receiv- 
er. In this item, developmental transistors were tried 
only in those circuits of a standard TV receiver where 
transistors, at their present stage, appeared most feasible. 
Five junction transistors perform the functions of four 
of the set's 22 tubes. The transistors are used in three 
of the eight principal stages of this experimental re- 
ceiver. 

A portable, battery-operated television receiver, 
tubeless except for the kinescope (picture tube). This 
item represents a pioneering attempt to build a com- 
pletely portable television set using transistors in the 
place of all electron tubes except for the picture tube. 
The purpose was to try transistors in all TV receiver cir- 
cuits so as to uncover the problems and make an initial 
effort towards their solution. The preliminary result is a 
single-channel receiver, with a five-inch screen, in a 
case no larger than that of a portable typewriter case 
(12" X 13" X 1"). In recent tests, the 27-pound 
battery-operated receiver produced a satisfactory picture 
when operated off its self-contained loop antenna five 
miles from the Channel 4 transmitter on the Empire 
State Building. With a small "rabbit-ear" antenna a 
similar picture was obtained fifteen miles from the 
transmitter. The experimental receiver has 37 develop- 
mental and experimental transistors, both junction and 
point-contact. Its total power consumption is 14 watts, 
less than 1/lOth that of a standard table-model set. 

Toy piano. To explore other aspects of transistor 
circuits, a minature electronic "piano" was built. About 
the shape and size of a pencil box, the device is battery- 
operated. When one of its eight keys is depressed it 
will sound a tone in a nearby radio receiver. It has one 
developmental junction transistor which serves as an 
oscillator. 



14 RADIO AGE 



Religion and Science- 



Two of rhc Most Porcnc Forces 
In Civilization, Says Sarnoff 



T 



-WO of the most potent forces in civilization — re- 
ligion and science — can be used to create "One World" 
in its truest and greatest sense, Brig. General David 
Sarnoff, Chairman of the Board of the Radio Corpora- 
tion of America, declared in an address before the 
annual meeting of the National Conference of Christians 
and Jews in Washington, D. C, on November 11. 

"Through religion," said General Sarnoff, "we can 
minimize the evils of greed, intolerance and lust for 
power. 

"Through science, we can reduce the physical bur- 
dens of mankind, make the earth more fruitful, create 
plenty in the place of scarcity, break down the barriers 
of ignorance and misunderstanding and make life more 
meaningful for everyone. 

"We know that peace and brotherhood are the 
common aims of the vast majority of mankind, yet today 
we live in two worlds instead of one. This is because 
a few wicked and ruthless leaders who dominate hun- 
dreds of millions of their victims have trampled upon 
religion and all its spiritual values and have misused 
science for their evil purposes. 

"We may face this threat, however, with the knowl- 
edge that religion and science can be far greater forces 
for good than they are for evil. The vitality of the 
human spirit that pulses with renewed vigor against 
aggression and slavery, against prejudice and persecu- 
tion, against hypocrisy and censorship, is certain to 
triumph over such sinister forces." 

General Sarnoff recalled that following the Armi- 
stice 34 years ago, hopes and prayers for an enduring 
peace faded with the years, and peace finally was blasted 
by a Second World War. 

"Only seven years have passed since the second 
global conflict ended," he pointed out. "But the peace 
that followed once more has failed to be steadfast. 

"Today, we are fighting again for freedom and 
justice. This time, in Korea. In the words of Kipling, 
there is 'no discharge in the war.' Indeed, we meet on 
this Armistice Day under clouds of war and under the 
threat that the storm may spread. 

"Yet, as fervent as ever in American hearts is the 
deep desire to live in peace and world brotherhood. Our 
goal remains the same and we will not abandon our 
purpose and our hope. 




Brig. General David SornofF addressing the National 
Conference of Christians and Jews in Washington, D. C. 



"Our hope springs from the knowledge that peace 
and brotherhood can be achieved." 

America furnishes a dramatic example of what a 
society based on brotherhood can produce, he continued, 
adding: "And we have the responsibility to give other 
nations a true picture of what we have built here. We 
can give much more to the world than the production 
line, or the telephone or television. All of these things 
— all the things we have produced — stem from our way 
of life . . . and it is that way of life itself which is the 
finest product we can offer to the world." 

Science makes it possible to pierce the iron curtains 
and open the doors to the minds of men, declared 
General Sarnoff, recounting how radio, television, mo- 
tion pictures and other means of mass-communications 
now are available to serve mankind everywhere. He 
said that science also can help to deter an aggressor and 
may even prevent another world war. 

"The great hope for a peaceful world," he empha- 
sized, "depends upon an understanding and an accept- 
ance of the spiritual precepts, the moral values and the 
virtues of tolerance and brotherhood. In studying the 
lives of the scientists, we find their love of nature was 
generally linked to a devout spirit. 

"Throughout the ages scientists have marveled at 
the communion of Nature's forces all working together. 
From the energy produced by electrons and atoms there 
is a lesson that humanity can learn of the power of 
individuals working together in harmony. Indeed, 
science preaches a great sermon of brotherhood. 
(Continued on page 32) 



RADIO AGE 15 




Production-Line Scenes in tb 

at Lancaster, 



A ring of gas jets around the outer rim of a tube fuses the glass faceplate 
to the kinescope's metal shell. 



An inspector examines the assembly of an 

electron gun, to assure that this fundamental 

element of a television picture tube conforms 

to rigid specifications. 





ne of RCA's employees at the Lancaster plant 

ads metal-shell picture tubes on the overhead 

conveyor system. 



At the terminal of the "settling belt," the water of 
the phosphor solution pours out into a spillway, 
leaving a fluorescent coating on the faceplate. 



Faceplates of metal-s 

kinescopes are carefi 

move on to the 



A Tube Plant 



rk-like instrument, guided by a worker, lifts a 
hot tube onto a cooling belt. 




l-glass rectangular 
d before the tubes 
n production. 



Using on optical pyrometer behind a protective 
shield, a worker measures the heat intensity of gas 
flames during the metal-to-glass sealing operation. 



Exposure to a powerful light allows this inspect© 

to give the screen surface of the picture tube < 

final inspection before shipment. 



By Bruce Lanskail 

Manager, Sales Division, 

Engineering Products Dept 

RCA Victor Company, Ltd. 

Montreal, Canada 



w. 



ITH the help of aviation and radio, the outer 
reaches of northwest Canada, one of the last great 
frontier areas of the world, are being industrialized at 
a rapid pace. The Dominion's valuable resources, com- 
mon to this remote portion of the country, are now 
being opened to exploration and development. So great 
is the promise that this movement, when completed, 
may be recorded as one of the greatest feats of national 
industrialization in history. 

Canada has been a rugged country to develop, so 
formidable in fact, that for more than three centuries 
after its settlement in 1604 practically all of its develop- 
ment was carried out in a narrow strip just north of the 
Border. Even there, the pioneers were forced to avoid 
hundreds of square miles that were beset by dense for- 
ests, lofty mountains and icy wastes. 

One of the most formidable parts of all the Domin- 
ion has been in mountainous British Columbia, a land 
that once could be reached only by sea or through 
mountain passes. The few settled plateaus and valleys 
were hemmed in by towering mountain ranges. 

Two of the antennas at Hope, British Columbia, part of 

the communications system which is being extended 

throughout the Province. 




UNITED 



STATES 




The oil-rich province of Alberta next door has also 
found a distinct use for radio to speed up its develop- 
ment and streamline its industry. In both cases, equip- 
ment supplied and installed by RCA Victor, Ltd., RCA's 
Canadian company, is helping to make these two prov- 
inces the most radio-conscious area on earth. 

Today's present developments in British Columbia 
are taking place in the interior and to the north. Under- 
lying much of the progress is the advance of communi- 
cations. The North West Telephone Company was one 
of the first in Canada to use 150-megacycle equipment 
in place of wire lines to connect outposts with settled 
areas. The system uses a series of stations as repeaters 
between Vancouver, the provincial metropolis, and Alert 
Bay, 220 miles to the north. Under way now is an 
expansion of its radio relay system farther up the coast. 
Much of the North West Telephone Company's equip- 
ment is RCA. 

To the Telephone Company, the use of radio instead 
of land line or cable means an extensive cash saving 
both in the original installation and in maintenance. 
Because of the extremely difficult terrain covered by this 
communications service, erecting and servicing land 
lines would have been almost impossible. The original 

78 RADIO AGE 



.anada's Western Frontier 




f) Prince George 



Alert Bay i 



British Columbia 



Edmonton 



■ ^ Hope 

Vancouver u^ «, ^Princeton 

\^ " ^ Copper Mt. 
Allison Poss"^ 



Calgary ® 



cost would be high since in many places construction 
crews would have had to cut their way through miles 
of forest, climbing thousands of feet of mountain on the 
way. And in a land of snowslides, landslides, windfalls 
and fierce winter storms, maintenance of lines would 
constitute an almost insurmountable problem. 

Because of these difficult operating conditions, Brit- 
ish Columbia has become Canada's largest user of radio 
relay communications. Radio serves not only outlying 
communities but also fishing craft off the coast, logging 
camps, fishing settlements, and mines. Eventually it will 
extend to Kitimat and Nechako, four hundred miles 
north in the mountain fastness, where the world's largest 
aluminum-power projects are being developed, and then 
another 350 miles northeast to Prince George, the prov- 
ince's northernmost railroad junction. In the land of tall 
timbers, the telephone pole may be on its way to 
extinction. 

Highway transportation through the mountain 
ranges is now a vital part of the British Columbia econ- 
omy and many of the same conditions which affect 
maintenance of telephone communications also affect 
highway upkeep. To combat these conditions, British 
Columbia again called upon radio, and RCA 'Victor 

RADIO AGE 19 



Enlargement of shaded area on map at left. 



This tower near Calgary supports radio antennas which 
feed signals north and west of the Canadian city. 




again helped provide the solution. 

A particularly important link in the southern trans- 
provincial highway system is the highway between the 
towns of Hope and Princeton. Due to the mountainous 
nature of the country and the fact that the highway in 
places reaches an elevation of 4,450 feet, there is a 
constant problem of snow removal in wintertime and 
the clearance of small rock slides and road repairs at 
other seasons of the year. Today, radio makes it possible 
to get through without snow plows, blowers and shovels. 

The virgin, mountainous nature of the country made 
the selection and equipping of radio station sites diffi- 
cult. Point-to-point communication was required from 
Allison Pass, the operational headquarters of the high- 
way, to both Hope and Princeton, as well as complete 
mobile coverage of the highway itself. 

Fixed stations were set up at Hope, at Allison Pass, 
and at Copper Mountain. These stations employ RCA 
150-MC transmitters and RCA receivers. Also, at Cop- 
per Mountain, an RCA 15 -watt transmitter-receiver was 
installed to work a link into a similar RCA 15-watt unit 
at Princeton. The installation at Hope included a 12- 
element directional antenna array pointed in a south- 
easterly direction towards Allison Pass where there are 
two transmitter-receivers, one connected to an antenna 
headed directly west. The other receiver-transmitter is 
connected to a 12-element array headed in a southeast- 
erly direction. It is located some 1,000 feet above the 
main public works camp at the highway level and power 
and control lines are brought up from the camp to the 
station on the mountain. 

In addition to its communications and transportation 
services, radio in British Columbia is the accepted me- 
dium for provincial fire and police operations. The 
Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which also serves as 
the provincial police organization in British Columbia, 
has in use a large number of RCA two-way radio equip- 
ment. In the lower mainland area the Mounties operate 
six main stations, another six are in operation in the 

Microwave station at Cascade, near Banff. The rugged 
terrain over which signals travel is in the background. 



^^^^^-LiV 





This microwave station at Edmonton, operated by North- 
western Utilities, serves as communications center for 40 
mobile vehicles. 



Vancouver Island area and additional installations were 
recently made in the Kootenay area. 

Folsom Says 1953 Will Bring 
Marked Expansion in TV 

(Continued from page 7) 
electronic devices as the electron microscope, X-ray, 
diathermy, and electroencephalograph will be added, it 
is expected, a number of new types of accurate and 
unique instruments of importance to medical diagnosis. 
Already developed by RCA Laboratories Division is an 
electronic viscometer that determines the rate at which 
an individual's blood coagulates. 

"3. Personal Services. Miniaturization of tubes and 
parts, as well as the development of transistors (which 
perform many of the functions of electron tubes), holds 
great promise for the advancement of personal service 
devices in radio and recording. 

"4. Industry. Now in substantial use by manu- 
facturers, electronic devices of detection, control, in- 
spection, and automatic operation can be expected to 
find increasing application in the next few years. 

"5. Printing. AU-electronic color correction instru- 
ments are under development to provide the first 
economical means of achieving quick and accurate 
color reproduction in magazines and daily newspapers. 
The RCA Victor Division has an electronic color cor- 
rection device in an advanced stage of development." 

Concluding, Mr. Folsom said: "The electronic symbol 
is a bright and guiding star that challenges science and 
industry to advance into new fields of endeavor, to 
create, and to improve with quality and efficiency as the 
standards." 

20 RADIO AGE 



Frank White Elected President of NBC 



Weaver a/iJ Herbert Move to Netv 
Executive Posts with Network 

JL RANK White, vice-president and general manager 
of the Radio and Television Networks of the National 
Broadcasting Company, has been elected President and 
a director of NBC, to succeed Joseph H. McConnell. 
Mr. McConnell resigned from NBC to join a company 
in another industry, and his new position will be an- 
nounced by that company in the near future. 

In announcing Mr. White's election, Brig. General 
David SarnofF, chairman of the Board of RCA and 
NBC said: "We are fortunate in having within the 
NBC organization an executive so uniquely qualified 
to assume the presidency of NBC as is Mr. White. He 
brings to his new responsibility the practical experience 
of a long and distinguished career in broadcasting, an 
unusual executive ability, and a great talent for human 
relationships which is so important in any business, 
and particularly in the business of broadcasting. I know 
that the whole NBC organization, its affiliated stations 
and its advertisers and their agencies will share our 
pleasure and confidence in this new appointment. 

"During the past three years in which Mr. McCon- 
nell has been President, the National Broadcasting 
Company has grown in stature and strength and has 
further enlarged the scope of its service to the American 
people," said General Sarnofl. "The great strides which 
NBC has made in speeding the development of tele- 
vision and maintaining the strength of radio are in 
themselves the greatest tributes to Mr. McConnell's 
leadership. Our appreciation for a job well done and 
our best wishes go with him as he leaves to assume 
his new responsibilities." 

Mr. Sylvester L. Weaver, Jr., vice-president in charge 
of the Radio and TV Networks of NBC, has been elected 
vice-chairman of the NBC Board of Directors. 

Mr. John K. Herbert, vice-president in charge of 
Network Sales, succeeds Mr. Weaver. 

General Sarnofl pointed out that the expansion of 
NBC's activities had prompted the establishment of 
the new position of vice-chairman of the Board to 
which Mr. Weaver has been named. 

"We believe that progress in broadcasting is never- 
ending," General Sarnofl said, "and that new ways of 
using the power of radio and television, new forms of 
programming and new opportunities for the broadcast 
media can and must be developed. Under Mr. Weaver, 
NBC television had led the way in creating many of 
the new concepts which have become part of the pat- 




Frank White 

tern of television. In his new position as vice-chairman, 
Mr. Weaver will be enabled to concentrate on the 
problems of long-range development, both in radio 
and television, and will fill a vital function in a rapidly 
expanding industry." 

Mr. Herbert's designation as vice-president in charge 
of the Radio and Television Networks was Mr. White's 
first appointment as the new head of NBC. 

"As vice-president in charge of Radio Sales and 
more recently as vice-president in charge of Sales for 
the Radio and Television Networks, Mr. Herbert has 
demonstrated not only great sales leadership but a 
grasp of our overall network problems and an ability 
to deal effectively with them," said Mr. White. "I am 
delighted to announce his appointment as vice-president 
in charge of both our networks. In this position, he 
will serve as the chief executive of the networks di- 
vision of NBC and in addition will continue to exercise 
general supervision over our network sales department." 

Sarnoff: Year-End Statement 

(Continued from page 5) 
"It is difficult to predict and unwise to limit the 
possibilities of the future in such a world-wide field of 
operations. In science, however, we are certain that 
progress will continue. The basis of our confidence is 
our faith in technology and in the ability of Americans 
to apply their talents in science, research, engineering 
and labor. The readiness of the American public to 
accept new ideas as well as new services and products is 
stimulating to all of these forces that operate within 
modern industry." 



RADIO AGE 2? 



RCA to Build Manufacturing Plant m Spain 



In Making the Announcement, President Folsom Revealed 

that New Factory Will Produce Records, Record 

Players and TV Sets 



R 



LANS of the Radio Corporation of America to 
build a factory in Spain for the production of phono- 
graph records, record players and television home 
receivers were announced on January 6 by Frank M. 
Folsom, President of RCA. 

Mr. Folsom said that the proposed plant, combining 
America's streamlined manufacturing principles with 
harmonious Spanish architecture, is expected to be 
completed in 1953. It is to be erected at a 322,000- 
square-foot site overlooking Madrid, on the main 
highway to Barajas Airport and the City of Barcelona. 

Arrangements for the project were made in coopera- 
tion with Gabriel Soria, President and Managing Di- 
rector of Industria Electronica, S.A., associate RCA 
company in Spain. Mr. Soria is at present in New York. 

Describing the plans, Mr. Folsom declared: 

"This is a significant enterprise, because Spain opens 
great cultural as well as economic resources to us. We 
have had the honor of discussing our plans with General 
Franco, and we are deeply gratified by his interest in 
this project, which will help the Spanish worker as well 
as the Spanish artist. 

"There is a favorable economic climate for elec- 
tronic development in Spain. This was typified by the 
recognition accorded also to our organization by Joa- 




Architect's model of RCA's proposed plant to be erected 
near Madrid, Spain. 



quin Planell, Minister of Industry, and Manuel Arburua, 
Minister of Commerce. 

"Our factory at first will make 45-rpm records, 
record players and TV sets. The Spanish nation has a 
great heritage of talent and we hope to further it as 
an international cultural medium in this new electronic 
era. 

"Thus, we hope to have all countries know Spanish 
composers and artists better through their recorded 
music. Our RCA world distribution facilities will help 
in this cultural interchange. 

■ "International television will receive a great im- 
petus when Spain adds her wealth of material to world 
video. Millions of people are looking forward to tele- 
casts of the immortal paintings in the Prado museum 
and other art centers of Spain. That is only one of the 
wells of inspiration which TV can tap in Spain. 

"We are honored to have leaders in Spanish indus- 
try as our associates in the company." 

Mr. Folsom explained that the firm, Industria 
Electronica, has as its Chairman of the Board Demetrio 
Carceller, former Spanish Minister of Industry and 
Commerce who is prominent in the oil industry of 
Spain. Another former Spanish cabinet minister, Jose 
Luis de Arreses, also is a member of the Board. He is 
at present a ranking counselor to the Government of 
Spain. 

Besides Mr. Folsom and Mr. Soria, the administra- 
tive head of the new company as well as its President 
and Managing Director, other Directors include Mr. 
Soria's brother, Antonio Soria, with whom Mr. Soria 
has handled RCA product distribution in Spain for 
the past seven years, and Meade Brunet, a Vice Presi- 
dent of RCA and Managing Director of the RCA In- 
ternational Division. 

In a statement describing plans for the new factory, 
Mr. Soria declared that the site was well adapted for 
expansion, and added: 

"The site will be beautifully landscaped and the 
factory will be modern, clean, well lighted, with easy 
access to transportation. It will combine the best of 
American production concepts with Spanish building 
techniques. ' 



22 RAD\0 AGE 



Sacks Named V.P. and General Manager of Record Department 



Emanuel ( Manie ) Sacks has been elected Vice- 
President and General Manager of the RCA Victor 
Record Department. 

In addition to his new responsibilities, Mr. Sacks 
will continue to function as Staff Vice-President of 
RCA. Mr. Sacks was elected to this position December 
1, 1950. As head of the RCA Victor Record Depart- 
ment, he succeeds Paul A. Barkmeier, who has been 
named Vice-President and Director of Regional Offices 
of the RCA Victor Division. 

Mr. Sacks joined RCA as Director of Artists Re- 
lations for the RCA Victor Division and the National 
Broadcasting Company on February 1, 1950. He has 
had many years of experience in the phonograph record 
and music business. 

Prior to his new and broader assignment, Mr. Bark- 
meier was Vice-President and General Manager of the 
RCA Victor Record Department. He was appointed 
to that position on January 6, 1950, having previously 
served for two years as General Manager of the De- 
partment. His experience in merchandising covers 




Emanuel (Manie) Sacks 

many years. He is a past President of the Chicago 
Controller's Association and Director of the National 
Controller's Congress. 




Henry G. Baker, an RCA Victor vice president, shows a 
student how to operate one of the television receivers 
donated to District of Columbia schools. In the rear are 
Rosel Hyde, Federal Communications Commissioner; Dr. 
Hobart Corning, District superintendent of schools, and C. 
Melvin Sharpe, president. District Board of Education. 



RCA Donates 25 TV Receivers 
To Educational Project 

Ceremonies marking a major step forward in the 
District of Columbia's pioneering experiment in class- 
room training by television were held November 26 in 
the studios of "WNB'W, TV outlet of the National 
Broadcasting Company in Washington. 

Dr. Hobart M. Corning, superintendent of schools, 
formally accepted a gift of 25 television receivers from 
RCA Victor, in a telecast from the 'Wardman Park stu- 
dios. Henry G. Baker, vice president and general man- 
ager of RCA Victor home instruments department, made 
the presentation. 

Expressing "deep appreciation for this generous con- 
tribution" to the Washington schools. Dr. Corning said, 
"I wish also to acknowledge with appreciation the co- 
operation of the staff of WNBW in the production of 
television lessons during the past three years, the gen- 
erous use of time and facilities made available without 
cost to the Board of Education, and the continued in- 
terest of RCA and NBC in developing educational tele- 
vision in collaboration with the Board of Education of 
the District of Columbia." 



RADIO AGE 23 




The Treern, a typical whale "catcher", is one of a fleet of 55 vessels equipped with RCA radar for a 
Norwegian whaling firm. The radar antenna, indicated by the circle, is installed above the bridge deck. 

Radar Helps to Modernize 
The Whaling Industry 



-Ln the rugged days portrayed by Herman Melville in 
his classical "Moby Dick," whaling was an industry 
peopled by characters almost legendary in their robust- 
ness, fortitude, and exploits. Every foray into the for- 
midable ocean was a gamble in ships and men, and 
accepted as such. Lacking means of communication, the 
whalers and their crews were out of touch with land 
sometimes for 6 months or more; with only human eyes 
to detect their quarry, crew members were handicapped 
in spotting whales in the broad, often fog-bound expanse 
of open water. 

Radio and radar have changed all that. With mod- 
ern steel whaling ships equipped with powerful radio- 
telegraph and radiotelephone systems, communication is 
available at all times between ships and between ships 



and shore. Radar has proved invaluable in the search 
for whales and in keeping track of the small boats that 
scour the sea far from the mother ship. But the opera- 
tions of the fleets are otherwise much as they were 
before the days of applied science. Despite technological 
advances, the battle between hulls, men, the seas and the 
world's largest mammals remains a thrilling saga. 

When the whaling season begins in late Fall, whalers 
weigh anchor in swift squadrons. The big factory ship, 
"mother" to the fleet, races southward with smaller 
"catcher" vessels cavorting at her sides like playful 
dolphins. But once the convoy has reached the hunting 
grounds at the bottom of the hemispheres, the 1,200-ton 
catcher vessels — far bigger than the factory ships of a 
century ago — leave the mother ship for the hunt, scatter- 



24 RADIO AGE 



ing for miles across the barren sea. Through it all, the 
ships talk back and fonh by radio, while radar — the 
silent sentinel — keeps constant vigil through fog and 
darkness, spotting the floating mesas of ice, preventing 
collision, keeping close contact with the vessels. It is 
a common event for the mother ship and her flock to 
lose sight of each other in the swirling fogs. The smaller 
craft may develop engine trouble or run out of fuel. 
But today losses from these causes are rare. The hardy 
skippers and their men have learned to depend on radar 
with a deep feeling of confidence. 

But radar does far more than perform its function as 
a safety measure. Its usefulness begins soon after the 
familiar "Whale Ho!" sounds out from the lofty crow's 
nest of the catcher vessel. The harpooner first takes his 
place in the bow as the swift craft noses forward. Aim- 
ing his high-powered harpoon gun, he waits until the 
whale is in range, then touches the trigger. The grenade- 
headed harpoon streaks to its mark. There is an explo- 
sion, and in a few minutes the behemoth is dead. 

At this point, the catcher edges in and makes fast to 
the gigantic carcass. The body of the whale is inflated 
with compressed air to prevent it from sinking. Then 
a steel reflector rod, bearing the catcher's number flag 
and an electric light, is stuck upright in the side of the 
floating whale, after which the catcher goes on to seek 
further prey. The floating carcass is soon located by 
radar aboard a corvette which tows the whale to the 
mother ship for processing. 

When a full cargo of oil is ready, a tanker is sum- 
moned by radio. The oil is pumped into this vessel 
allowing the factory ship to remain in the hunting 
grounds until the ice begins to close in and make further 





Advantages of RCA radar are demonstrated to ship 
owners by on installation on the yacht "Nera" which 
Olaf Bordewick, general manager of A S NERA, Norway 
distributor for RCA International Division, uses in his 
visits to harbor towns along the country's coastline. 



rUotu by Statile 



Radio-equipped helicopters, together with radar, in- 
crease the scouting range of whalers and add materially 
to the annual production of oil and by-products ob- 
tained from the mammals. The whales in this picture 
have been inflated with air which keeps them afloat until 
located by radar on a corvette and towed to the mother 
ship for processing. 



operations dangerous. Thus, in a good season, several 
cargoes of oil can be processed without requiring the 
mother ship and catcher boats to return to their distant 
home base. 

One whaling fleet has successfully used the heli- 
copter-radio combination to spot whales. The "flying 
windmill" scouts a wide front, sometimes 90 miles ahead 
of the fleet. From the air a spouting whale can be 
sighted 15 miles away on a clear day. Then a radio 
message from the plane directs a catcher vessel to the 
prey. One helicopter, aided by radio, is reported to have 
sighted 560 whales in 60 days, 494 of them confirmed 
catches. 

Many ships sailing under proud and historic house 
flags go to sea with RCA radar aloft. The lives of 
seariien — a priceless commodity — are watched over 
by the magic eye that sees through fog and darkness. 

Some owners have equipped their entire fleets with 
radar. Since World War II, the RCA International 
Division — through its worldwide distributor organiza- 
tion — has equipped more than 1,000 ships of foreign 
registry with radar, of which approximately 150 have 
been installed on whalers operating in the Antarctic. 



RADIO AGE 25 



RCA Records Have Improved Quality 



By H. I. Reiskind 

Manager, Engineering Section, Record Department 
RCA Victor Division 



o. 



'vER the years the goal of all of the people who 
work on phonograph records — development engineers, 
musical directors, and recording engineers — has been 
the same, viz., to bring to the listener in his living room 
the same emotional experience he would have received 
had he attended the actual performance. Over the years 
the continuing improvement in phonograph records and 
reproducers has resulted in sound more nearly approach- 
ing this goal. 

One of the big steps forward — ■ at least one of the 
more obviously apparent ones from the standpoint of the 
consumer — was the introduction of the "45" and the 
long-playing record. Since that time, development work 
has continued, both in the laboratory and in the record- 
ing studios, and has now resulted in a further improve- 



ment which we have called "New Orthophonic" — 
"Orthophonic" meaning correct sound. 

RCA Victor's "New Orthophonic" records are char- 
acterized by four principal features. They are: 1 ) 
complete frequency range; 2 ) no loss of high-frequency 
response from the outside to the inside of the record; 
3 ) ideal dynamic range for home listening, and 4 ) im- 
proved quiet surface. A tew words of explanation of 
each of these features might be worth while. 

In order to reproduce the full orchestral color, it is 
of course necessary that all the instruments be recorded 
and reproduced with the same balance that would be 
heard in the concert hall. It is necessary that the low 
notes of the tuba, the bass viol, and the tympani, as well 
as the high notes and the overtones of the violins, the 
oboes and the other treble instruments, be recorded and 
reproduced so that they are relatively as loud with re- 
spect to the other instruments as they were in the 
original performance. This requires that the acoustic 
environment of the orchestra be properly selected, that 
the orchestra be properly seated, and that the micro- 




The author examines a master recording produced by the advanced "New Orthophonic" techniques 

developed by RCA Victor engineers. The cutting stylus is electronically heated to give a wide frequency 

range throughout the length of the groove. 



phones be properly located witli respect to tiie various 
instrumental choirs. 

When this is done — and continuing study and 
experimentation have resulted in improved techniques 
— we achieve a well defined, brilliant orchestral tone 
with each instrument in proper perspective. It is then 
necessary that the recording equipment, the record manu- 
facturing processes, and the reproducer be such as m 
permit the listener to hear, in his home, the same sound 
that the recording engineer and musical director heard 
in their loud-speaker when they made the recording. 
Recent improvements in disc recording equipment have 
extended the recorded range and have made it possible 
to produce records which have on them all the sound 
heard at the recording session. 

Heated Stylus Inifiioves Brilliance 

One failing of the disc record has been that as the 
recording goes toward the inside, which means that the 
groove moves past the stylus more slowly, some loss in 
brilliance has resulted. A scheme of electronically heat- 
ing the recording stylus, which was developed and in- 
corporated in our equipment, eliminated this loss in 
brilliance towards the inside of the record. The same 
technique also results in a subsidiary advantage. Grooves 
cut with cold styli had microscopically small "horns" 
projecting above the surface of the record. These 
"horns", because of their extremely small size, were very 
delicate and, therefore, easily damaged by rubbing the 
surface of the record. The use of electronically heated 
styli has eliminated these "horns" and thus has made 
the record less susceptible to scuffing. 

The third feature of "New Orthophonic" records is 
that their dynamic range is ideal for home listening. It 
is sometimes suggested that the objective of the record- 
ing engineer should be to bring the performer into the 
living room. While this may sometimes be the desirable 
objective for an instrumental or vocal record, it is obvi- 
ously not for an orchestral record. If we were to repro- 
duce the full volume and the full volume range of a 
symphony orchestra in the living room, the results would 
be unpleasant, to say the least. Actually, it has been 
established that the dynamic range (the spread between 
the quietest and the loudest passages) needed to pro- 
duce concert hall illusion is a function of the size of the 
room in which the sound is to be heard. Therefore, 
careful attention is given to the adjustment of the dy- 
namic range on the record for living room reproduction. 
The best results are achieved when, as in "New Ortho- 
phonic" recordings, the adjustment is made through the 
choice of the proper acoustic environment and micro- 
phone placement. 

Surface noise, whether it be a ste.idy hiss, ticks, or any 




Electronic heat ap- 
plied to the cutting 
stylus through the 
two wires at the right 
adds to the brilliance 
of tone in the "New 
Orthophonic" meth- 
od of recording de- 
veloped by RCA. 



other type, has long been a bugaboo to the listener, the 
engineer, and the manufacturer. Basically, there are four 
sources: 1 ) the operation of cutting the groove in the 
original master; 2 ) the plating processes used to make 
the stamper that molds the record; 3) coarse material 
in the plastic compound, and 4 ) imperfect molding of 
the record. 

These four areas have long received engineering 
attention, and improvements are being made continually. 

The use of electronically-heated styli has, in addition 
to the advantages outlined earlier, eliminated practically 
all of the noise that occurs in the original cutting. Im- 
provements in electroplating processes and in molding 
methods have materially reduced noise from these 
sources, and the use of synthetic plastic compositions for 
the record has virtually eliminated that source of noise 
in addition to the more obvious advantage of producing 
a nonbreakable record. While the ultimate goal of com- 
plete elimination of all forms of noise has not yet been 
reached, we believe that "New Orthophonic" records 
represent a new high ( or, lest there be some mistake, a 
new low ) in amount of surface noise. 

Test Record Aids Adjustments 

With the major improvements that have been made 
in disc records in the past five years, a great deal of 
interest in wide-range, custom-built reproducers has 
developed. Owners of such instruments are often inter- 
ested in adjusting their equipment so that its reproduc- 
ing characteristic complements the recording character- 
istic of the record. Because of the number of requests 
we have received for such information, we have recorded 
a special test record which, with the addition of an 
output meter, makes it possible to adjust the reproducer 
to the "New Orthophonic" characteristic. These records 
(both "45's" and 33''3-rpm) are available through RCA 
Victor distributors. We have also prepared written in- 
formation describing the "New Orthophonic" recording 
characteristic and its derivation. Judging by the number 
of requests we have received for this information in the 
few weeks that it has been available, there is a definite 
mterest on the part of the "high fidelity" fan. 



RADIO AGE 77 



Radar Development 
Simplifies Plotting 
of Vessel's Course 

Position Tracker Permits Navigator to Trace 
Target Positions on Face of Scope. 

By Thomas P. Wynkoop 

President 
Radiotnamie Corp. of America 



JI_/FFICIENT as radar has proved to be in its role as an 
outstanding aid to marine navigation, it has now been 
made even more eflfective by the Powergraph Position 
Tracker, an advanced devolpment of the Radiomarine 
Corporation of America. As a result, a ship's navigator, 
supplied with the Tracker, is now able to trace the move- 
ment of other vessels directly on the radar scope itself 
thus maintaining a continuous plot to show his course 
in relation to the courses of other vessels. 

Prior to this latest development, the plotting of the 
course of a radar target required additional personnel 
and cumbersome equipment with inevitably inaccurate 
results. After numerous attempt to evolve an effective 
plotting method, experts concluded that the only logical 
solution was to plot the target's course directly on the 
scope. To do this, it was obvious that means would have 
to be found to eliminate the optical error called parallax. 
Parallax is a fault which is introduced when the naviga- 
tor, standing in front of the radar scope, changes his 
viewing position so that the pin-point reflection of the 
target 'pip " seems to have shifted to one side or the 
other. 

The Powergraph Position Tracker is permanently 




EDGE LIGHT 




RITING SURFACE 



Sketch explains how navigator's notations on face of 
radar scope (top) provide traces of target movements. 



mounted on the radar indicator directly over the scope 
tube. It comprises an edge-lighted concave glass writing 
surface and a special dichroic (two-color) mirror. This 
mirror has the unique property of reflecting downward 
as a red image on the scope any wax pencil marking 
that is placed on the writing surface. 

At the same time the mirror permits the normal 
yellow glow of the radar targets to pass upward to the 
observer's eye. In this way, the Tracker provides a con- 
venient method of recording the relative positions of 
objects within range of the radar. New marks are made 
{Continued on Page 32) 




Marine radar provides the 
ship's navigator with a con- 
stant "picture" of distan 
objects, such as land-falls, 
and at the same time per 
mits him to locate buoy; 
and other aids to naviga 
tion, unafFected by dark 
ness or limited visibility 



■ 


n 


■ 


■ 


it 


^^^H 


H 


K 




^^S 


^k£M:< 





Our Small-Business Family 



By Vincent deP. Goubeau 

Vice President a-nd Director of Materials 
RCA Victor Division 



T 

JLh 



.HE chief investigator of the United States Senate 
Small Business Committee, Mr. William D. Amis, re- 
cently visited our Camden office to obtain, as part of a 
general industrial survey, information concerning RCA 
Victor's subcontracting program. He came at the re- 
quest of Senator John Sparkman of Alabama, Chairman 
of the Committee, who had previously directed a number 
of written queries to us concerning the scope of small 
business participation in our defense contracts. 

Based on these queries from Senator Sparkman, we 
prepared a report on procurement procedures of the 
RCA Victor Division. It covered a broad range of 
subjects, including general procurement policies, re- 
lations with small businesses, our system of meeting 
small businessmen and our methods of assisting small 
vendors in the execution of contracts. The report in- 
cluded a number of case histories of small businesses in 
various sections of the country whose growth and well 
being were, in part at least, attributable to our association. 

Mr. Amis' reception of the report indicated that 
RCA's program for collaboration with the American 
small businessman would be of value to the Committee 
in charting future courses of action. 

The report established that three-fourths of the 5,000 
vendors who have worked on our Government and 
commercial contracts over the past two and one-half 
years are small businessmen, according to Government 
classification. It further showed that approximately 50 
cents of every dollar spent by RCA Victor on vendor 
contracts in this period went to the small businessman. 

With this yardstick for measuring small business 
participation in our procurement program, the report 
emphasized the following activities and procedures of 
the RCA Victor Division: 

1 — General Policies: — Within the framework of 
competitive bidding, RCA Victor seeks to estab- 
lish long-term and stable relationships with its 
suppliers in each industry. It views its suppliers 
as adjuncts of the company, as associates and 
partners rather than outsiders. It emphasized the 
importance of personal contacts between sup- 
pliers and our purchasing representatives in the 
negotiation and execution of contracts. 




Scene in the Chicago plant of the Molded Products Corp., 

one of the many small-business vendors who supply RCA 

Victor with components for electronic products. 

2 — Relations with Small Business: — RCA Victor 
makes a continuing effort to broaden its national 
supply base, thus insuring full small business 
participation in our subcontracts. It works 
closely with small business officials of the De- 
partment of Defense and the three branches of 
the Armed Forces, advising and assisting in the 
execution of the Department's program. Through 
public relations programs and advertisements, it 
seeks to dramatize the contributions of our 
small business associates to the defense effort. 

3 — Small Business Contacts at RCA Victor: — The 
General Purchasing Division of RCA Victor has 
created machinery for the personal reception of 
small businessmen seeking work with us. When 
the small businessman approaches our offices, he 
is guided from receptionist to commodity spe- 
cialist, to product department purchasing agent. 
His qualifications and his ability to fuffiU our 
requirements are thoroughly investigated — 
often by on-the-spot inspection of his plant. 

4 — Statistical Check on Small Businessman's Share 
of Contracts: — To keep abreast of our subcon- 
tracting orders and to determine what percentage 
small business is getting, we have devised a 

{Continued on Page 31) 



RADIO AGE 29 



A 



1,892 Employees of RCA are Members 
oj 25 -Year Clubs 



.S of December 1, 1952, 1,892 employees of the 
Radio Corporation of America had accumulated more 
than 47,000 years of service in the company. These 
are the members, by latest count, of the 2 5 -year clubs 
of the Corporation and its subsidiaries. 

Among these long-term employees are some who 
worked for RCA's predecessors, prior to 1919. In their 
time they have seen RCA grow from an organization of 
475 to 53,000 persons, who comprise the backbone of 
a team famous around the world for quality products 
and dependable service. Each year, as additional mem- 
bers of the RCA family reach the quarter of a century 
milestone, their loyal and faithful service is recognized 
by admittance to the 25-Year Clubs. 

The RCA Victor Division leads the list with the 
greatest number of quarter-century veterans. At the 
end of 1952, more than 1,350 Victor employees, 1,110 
men and 240 women had joined the select group. Dur- 
ing the past year, 158 persons from plants at Camden, 
and Harrison, N. J., Lancaster, Pa., Hollywood, Indian- 
apolis, Detroit, Cincinnati and Chicago became members 
and received gold watches, the established emblem of 
honor. 

Typical of Victor's veteran employees is Charles J. 
Glenzinger. Now 63 years old, he joined the Victor 
Talking Machine Company as an order clerk in 1905, 
and now boasts the greatest length of service with the 
Division. For several years he was employed in the 
materials handling section of Victor Talking Machine 
Company, the RCA Manufacturing Company and the 
present RCA Victor Division, always in Camden. Since 
1951 he has been a storekeeper with the Engineering 
Products Department. 

One Club is Located in Manila 

RCA Communications, Inc., established its first 25- 
Year Club in 1944. Today, there are three clubs located 
at New York, San Francisco and Manila. The present 
membership is 322, consisting of 305 men and 17 
women. 

RCA Communications' employee with the longest 
service record is Henry G. Heisel, General Office and 
Service Manager of the Operations Department in 
New York. He joined the Marconi 'Wireless Telegraph 
Company of America in 1912 as an office boy. In later 
years he became successively Auditor of Receipts of 



RCA, Manager of RCA Laboratories' Finance Depart- 
ment and Assistant Treasurer of RCA Communications. 
Although the RCA Laboratories Division was 
formed as late as 1942, 82 of its employees have been 
honored for 25 years of service with RCA. These 
persons, including four women and 78 men, have re- 
ceived gold watches and 2 5 -year certificates at annual 
dinners held at the David Sarnoff Research Center in 
Princeton, N. J. Seventeen employees became members 
of this distinguished group during the past year. 

Has Service Record of -i-i Years 

'With 44 years of service to his credit, 'Wilbur A. 
Murphy, now a Staff Assistant at Princeton, has the 
longest service record of RCA Laboratories' employees. 
In 1908, Mr. Murphy joined the Victor Talking Machine 
Company at Camden, N. J., as an office boy, with a 
starting salary of S2.00 a week. Subsequently, he became 
a Payroll Clerk and in 1924 was transferred to Victor's 
phonograph record plant at Oakland, Calif. After the 
formation of the RCA Manufacturing Company, Mr. 
Murphy returned to Camden as a Stafi^ Assistant. In 
1942, he joined the Princeton laboratories. 

The National Broadcasting Company, which cele- 
brated its 25th Anniversary in 1951, marked the occasion 
by forming a 25-Year Club. The present membership 
in the club totals 56 employees from NBC offices in 
New York, Hollywood, San Francisco, 'Washington and 
Chicago. During the last two years, 43 men and 13 
women have received watches in recognition of their 
quarter-century service. 

According to the records, Harry F. McKeon, Staff 
Controller of NBC, has the greatest length of service 
with NBC and organizations which were acquired by 
RCA. In 1916 he joined the American Telephone and 
Telegraph Company and six years later became Auditor 
of A. T. & T.'s Radio Department. 'When RCA pur- 
chased radio station WEAF in 1926, Mr. McKeon was 
appointed Auditor of NBC, and in 1942, he was named 
Controller of the Company. 

The Quarter Century Club of Radiomarine Cor- 
poration of America, formed in 1948, has 56 members 
including two women. Certificate of Honor scrolls and 
gold watches are awarded to new members. 

Radiomarine's veteran with the longest service is 
{Continued on Page 31) 



30 RADIO AGE 



Our Small-Business Family 



(Continued from Page 29) 

comprehensive system of statistical reports. Each 
month, reports on the dollar volume and number 
of purchase orders from each product department 
are tabulated. All our current vendors are di- 
vided, according to Government classification, as 
small or large. An IBM card index system digests 
this information and allows us to prepare semi- 
annual reports showing total dollar volume of 
business with each vendor and whether that 
vendor is small or large. This has helped us 
maintain a constant and equitable allocation of 
subcontracts between businesses of all sizes. 

5 — Assiitance to Small Business: — We believe that 
the success of a subcontracting program is de- 
pendent on more than a written contract. It 
requires a comradely relationship between the 
prime contractor and the vendor; it requires a 
willingness to swap information and technical 
know-how; it requires a desire to help the other 
fellow out in a pinch, to expedite supplies, to 
lend financial encouragement. The story of how 



RCA Victor contributes these "extras" was told 
in terms of a few small companies which are 
typical of the many. We provided capsule de- 
scriptions of our association with the Atkron 
Company, of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio; Dielectric 
Products, of Jersey City, N. J.; the Independent 
Manufacturing Company, of Riverton, N. J.; 
E. R. Capewell & Sons, of Mt. Holly, N. J.; 
GrayhiU Company, of LaGrange, 111.; D. S. 
Kennedy Company, of Cohasset, Mass.; and 
Kusic-Haines Manufacturing Company, of Weir- 
ton, W. Va. In each instance, we showed how 
these companies had grown as a result of their 
association with us; in each instance, we demon- 
strated that close collaboration had reacted to 
our mutual benefit. 

Through this report and our subsequent meeting, 
Mr. Amis had an opportunity to become acquainted 
with our company's traditional belief: that small and 
large businesses are completely interdependent, that by 
working together they can meet the dual needs of de- 
fense and home consumption and thus sustain our 
unmatched standard of living. 



1,892 Employees of RCA are Members of 25-Year Clubs 



(Continued froi?i Page 30) 
Daniel J. DeCoste, Senior Clerk at the Boston Office. 
Born 62 years ago, Mr. DeCoste joined the Marconi 
Wireless Telegraph Company of America in the sum- 
mer of 1909. For many years he was responsible for 
the operating and servicing of communications equip- 
ment. 

The RCA International Division's roster of 2 5 -year 
veterans consists of four women and 20 men. Of this 
group. Traffic Manager Howard M. Spellman has 
accumulated the longest service, begining in 1907 with 
the 'Victor Talking Machine Company. 

In I91.T he became first assistant in Victor's Export 
Department. After performing various billing and 
shipping duties, he was made Traffic Manager of RCA 
Victor in 1935 and ten years later was transferred to 
his present position in the International Division. Mr. 
Spellman is now Chairman of the Overseas Freight and 
Traffic Committee of the Radio and Television Manu- 
facturers Association. 

Two of the present employees of RCA Institutes 
have served with RCA or its predecessor companies 



for 25 years. Cornelius Peterson, veteran instructor of 
the Institutes, conducts classes in radio physics and 
mathematics. Mr. Peterson began his teaching career 
in 1924 with the Radio Institute of America, which 
later became RCA Institutes. During World War II, 
he spent two years with the Radiomarine Corporation 
of America. Mr. Peterson is believed to have taught the 
subject of radio transmitter theory for more years than 
any other man in the United States. 

A review of RCA's veteran employees and the clubs 
which have been established to recognize their years of 
faithful service can present only a small cross-section 
of the people who compose the RCA family. Through- 
out the vast army of RCA's employees are hundreds of 
persons who have devoted 5, 10, 15, 20 and more years 
within the ranks of the Corporation. These men and 
women are at work as clerks, technicians, secretaries, 
engineers, machinists, assembly line workers, account- 
ants, executives and in many other fields. The progress 
and accomplishments of RCA in the last 3.t years can 
be attributed in large measure to the outstanding co- 
operation and teamwork of these veterans. 



RADIO AGE 31 



Radar Development Simplifies 
Plotting of Vessel's Course 

(Continued from Page 28) 
as the target vessel changes location, thus facilitating the 
working out of courses, speeds, passing distances or the 
solution of other navigational situations. 

The use of the dichroic mirror is a notable stride in 
marine navigational plotting. Much work has been done 
with these mirrors in the development of color television 
cameras but it is believed that the Powergraph Position 
Tracker represents the first application of these color 
filtering mirrors to a radar plotting device. 

The logic behind the gradual evolution of the Power- 
graph Position Tracker becomes apparent when previous 
plotting methods are analyzed. With the early True 
Plot method the radar findings had to be relayed to 
another person who recorded them on a sheet. Next 
came the Relative Plot or Maneuvering Board method 
in which the investigating ship was used as the basis for 
the problem. This provided a more substantial base for 
calculations. The United States Navy took the next step 
with its swifter, more efficient plotting system which 
embodied the Plastic Maneuvering Board. This system 
utilized a series of concentric and parallel lines drawn 
directly on the plotting surface of the board. A still later 
innovation, the Navy's Dead Reckoning Tracer, moved 
the plotting surface over the mark designating the ship's 
position in direct relation to her speed. 

Radar is still regarded by many laymen as one of 
science's greatest mysteries. Although it may appear 
complex, in principle it is surprisingly simple. The name 
itself is derived from the combination of the first letters 
of the words RA-dio, D-irection finding, A-nd R-anging. 
In the actual operation of radar, a directed radio beam 
is transmitted in a complete circle from the ship's re- 
volving radar antenna. This beam "hits" any surround- 
ing objects (targets) up to 25 miles or more distant and 
is reflected back to the source. The returned signal is 
made to appear by electronic means on a calibrated 
kinescope which makes it possible to calculate the exact 
position of the target. As the ship moves along it,' 
course new targets are indicated by the beam. 

Now that navigators the world over can use the 
magic of radar to calculate a target's position, bearing 
and speed by merely flicking a switch and making sev- 
eral notations on a visible screen, credit for much of this 
accomplishment is due Radiomarine engineers who have 
contributed so much to make this mariner's dream 



come true. 



RCA Executives and Engineers 
Receive Honors from I. R. E. 

Brig. General David Sarnofl, Chairman of the Board 
of RCA, will receive the first Founders Award of the 
Institute of Radio Engineers at the Institute's annual 
convention in New York in March. He will be cited for 
his "outstanding contributions to the radio engineering 
profession through wise and courageous leadership in the 
planning and administration of technical developments 
which have greatly increased the impact of electronics on 
the public welfare." The new award has been established 
to commemorate the three founders of the I. R. E.: Dr. 
Alfred N. Goldsmith, John V. L. Hogan and Robert H. 
Marriott. 

Effective January 1, 1953, ten engineers and scientists 
of RCA became Fellows of the I. R. E. in recognition of 
outstanding contributions to the electronics art. Recipi- 
ents were Edmund A. Laport, International Division; 
John L. Callahan, Russell R. Law, Jan A. Rajchman, 
Bertram Trevor and Charles J. Young, Laboratories Divi- 
sion; Kenneth A. Chittick, Lewis B. Headrick and Philip 
J. Herbst, Victor Division, and Allen B. Oxley, RCA 
Victor Co., Ltd., Canada. 

The 1953 Editor's Award of the I. R. E. will be 
received by Edward O. Johnson and "William M. "Webster, 
Jr., RCA Laboratories Division, for their paper in the 
June, 1953, Proceedings of the I. R. E., entitled, "The 
Plasmatron, a Continuously Controllable Gas-Discharge 
Developmental Tube." 

Dr. B. E. Shackelford, Director of the License Depart- 
ment, RCA International Division, has been elected an 
I. R. E. director for 1953-55. 

Religion and Science 

(Continued from Page 1 5 ) 

"Scientists have seen this truth applied to their own 
activities. They have beheld the importance of a 
brotherhood among them which transcends racial, re- 
ligious and geographical boundaries. "Whether path- 
finders, pioneers or inventors, they come to realize that 
in their achievements they have built upon the founda- 
tion of ideas and theories established, possibly long years 
ago, by their brothers in science. 

"Men must learn to live and work together or all 
will perish together. This concept of the relationship 
between men is not new. The ideal of brotherhood has 
pervaded the teachings of all religious thinkers — Chris- 
tians, Mohammedans and Jews alike — whose moral and 
philosophic precepts form the bedrock of our modern 
institutions and culture. And this concept, as we all 
know, is basic to a true democratic way of life." 



32 RADIO AGE 




Use the RCA MAGNETIC Recorder- Profector 



Nc 



low, make your entire film 
library work harder, train faster, ex- 
plain more clearly ... let every 16mm 
film you own tell a brand-new story 
with the new RCA magnetic recorder- 
projector that puts sound on film in 
an instant. 

Look at these 
5 Important, New Training Aids 



1. Make your own 
sound films 

Now you can actually 
make your own sound 
films — without studio 
facilities— at amazingly low cost. Shoot film 
with your present camera. Add sound to 
developed print with the new RCA recorder- 
projector. 

2. Add sound 
to si'/enf films 

Give films the immedi- 
acy and impact of sound 
and voice. Record a 
fresh message minutes before a lecture. Or 
organize a project to prepare complete, 
professional scripts. 





3. Make sound films 
tell a new story 

Revamp distracting, 
out-of-date commen- 
tary. Interpret films in 
terms of current trends. Revive expensive 
films that are gathering dust on your shelves. 
Get sound quality you never dreamed pos- 
sible on 16mm film. 




iSJ 



4. Make your 
message specific 

Record a narrative on 
any 16mm film to place 
it exactly on your audi- 
ence's level— make it directly applicable to 
those it addresses— bring it into the scope 
of your discussion. 

5. Let films speak 
Iwo languages 

Your present optical 
sound track plus new 
magnetic track do 
double duty, give films two tongues. For 
example: English and Spanish, technical 
and non-technical, elementary and advanced 
. . . both on the same film! 

HERE'S ALL YOU DO. Have a narrow mag- 
netic stripe added to your 16- or 24-frame 
sound or silent 16mm film. Laboratory services 



«; 



^:^ 



are set up to do this quickly and expertly — 
without destroying your present optical sound 
track — for a few cents a foot. (Films with per- 
forations on both edges must be duplicated on 
single-perforation stock.) 

Project film in your RCA recorder-projector, 
and speak into the microphone as you watch 
the film. Play back instantly. Keep it as long as 
you want it. Erase and re-record at any time. 
(Here's sound on film for 11 % of the cost of 
optical sound!) It's simple as tliat. 
It's tliree equipments in one. (I) It's an 
excellent instrument for projecting and re- 
producing 16mm sound motion picture film — 
recorded both optically and magnetically. It 
has all the operating conveniences of the RCA 
"400" line including the famous "thread-easy" 
feature. 

(2) It's an unequalled device for recording 
your own sound track on 16mm film. 

(3) It can serve as a public address system. 

LISTEN BEFORE YOU BUY 

Before you buy any type of sound projector, listen to 
tlie superb magnetic reproduction of the RCA recorder- 
projector. Tbere's nothing hke it anywhere on 16niai 
film. Listen . . . and compare . . . before you buy. 

r 

I Visual Products, Dept. 174F, RCA, Camden, N. J. 

I Without obligation, please send me the full story 
* on new RCA Magnetic Recorder-Projector that 
I puts my own sound track on 16mm movie filnu 



Get started on your new film program today — Mail Coupon NOW 



i?i« DiO CORPORA TIOM of A ME RICA 



I Title. 

I 

I 

I 



Affiliation_ 

Address 

City 




^our oiiardLans of qiialit^^ in radio, 
television and recorded mxisic 



When you see these trade marks on television sets, 
radios, "Victrola" phonographs, and other electronic 
instruments you are assured the highest quality— 
born of research, fine engineering and craftsmanship. 

The sun never sets on these trade marks, and mil- 
lions of people around the world turn to them ivith 
friendly confidence. 

RCA, as the pioneer, continues to lead in every major 
advance ... in all phases of television. 

RCA Victor has made radio a household word to 
millions of Americans. "Victrola" phono<^raphs have ex- 
tended great music from the concert halls to homes 



everywhere . . . from Broadway to Every Street, U.S.A. 

You also see these trade marks on records so rich in 
"living presence" that artists seem to be performing 
in your home. 

Little Nipper and the familiar phrase "His Master's 
Voice" have appeared on recordings made by the world's 
greatest artists — for more than half a century. 

These same high standards of qualitv make NBC 
the nation's leader in radio and television broadcast- 
ing. You can depend on RCA and RCA \'ictor trade 
marks as r^tiardians of qualiti/ — sure guides to finer 
performance, dependability, better value and service. 




Radio Corporation of America 

World leader in rn<lio—/ir.st in teIe\ision 



RESEARCH • MANUFACTURING • COMMUNICATIONS • BROADCASTING • TELEVISION 





RCA Television Systems now serve the world ! 



Television towehs are rising 
round the world. They are symbols of a 
new era in education and understand- 
ing. Increasing numbers of RCA 
equipped TV stations are on the air or 
planned for early operation in Brazil, 
Canada, Cuba, Dominican Republic, 
Italy, Japan, Mexico, The Philippines 
and Venezuela. 

More and more countries plan for 
video, the great new teacher. A world 

World Leader in Radio 
First in Recorded Music 
First in Television 



network of TV stations emerges, tap- 
ping the reservoirs of culture, improv- 
ing markets, creating better under- 
standing. 

Abroad, as in the U.S.A., RCA has 
everything for television . . . from cam- 
era tube to antenna, from transmitter to 
receiver . . . and the service of distribu- 
tors and companies long versed in the 
electronic needs of their countries. 

Only RCA manufactures pveiything 



. . . from TV cameras, through studio 
and remote facilities which send clear, 
steady pictures out over the air from 
RCA transmitters, to the bright, sharp 
pictures and sound in homes, schools 
and many other locations. 

Your RCA Distributor or coriiixnitj tvill he lihid 
to offer information on RCA Television; or 
lurite to RCA Interntitiomil Division for the 
booklet, "World Experience" ... a .itimiihUin'i 
review of TV around the world today. 




RCA INTtRNATIONAL DIVISION 

RADIO CORPORATION of AMERICA 

KCA BUIIDINO 

30 ROCKtftUtR PLAZA. NIW YORK, N.Y.. U.S.A. 



I 




ARCH • MANUFACTURING • COMMUNICATIONS 
BROADCASTING •TELEVISION 




APRIL 1953 




COVER 

Elements of a junction tran- 
sistor are so minute that they 
must be assembled under a 
magnifying lens. Here are 
transistors in various stages 
of completion, as viewed 
through a glass table. 



NOTICE 

When requesting a change in 
address please include the cod 
and numbers which appeor \ 
stencilled address on the ei 

Radio Age is published quar 
Ihe Deparlmenl of Inlormalioi 
Corporation ol America, 30 
teller Plaza, New York 20, N 



mailing 
e letters 
with the 
nvelope. 

lerl, by 
n. Radio 



Printed in U.S.A. 



VOLUME 12 NUMBER 2 



CONTENTS 



Page 

Sarnoff Honored by Institute of Radio Engineers 3 

Compatible Color TV Authorization Urged by RCA 6 

They Keep Communications Moving 8 

Awards of "Oscars" Carried to Nation by RCA-NBC 11 

Electronics' Next Era 12 

by Dr. Irving Wolff 

RCA Executives Promoted 14 

NBC's Film Division 15 

by Robert W. Sarnoff 

Teleprompter Aids the Orator 17 

by E. C. Buurma 

Electronic Action in Solids 18 

by H. W. Leverenz 

Going Abroad? 21 

Long-Life Batteries 25 

NBC Signs Two Playwrights for TV Programs 26 

by Charles C. Barry 

Maedel Heads RCA Institutes 27 

What is YOUR Taste in TV Commercials? 28 




RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA 

RCA Building, New York 20, N.Y. 



DAVID SARNOFF, Chairn^ari of Ihe Board 
JOHN Q. CANNON, Secretary 



FRANK M. FOLSOM, President 
ERNEST B. GORIN, Treosorer 



Services of RCA are: 
RCA Victor Division • RCA Service Company, Inc. • RCA International Division 
National BroocJcasting Company, Inc. • Radiomarine Corporation of America 
RCA Communications, Inc. • RCA Laboratories Division • RCA Institutes, Inc. 
RCA Estate Appliance Corp. • RCA Victor Distributing Corp. 




The phonograph record players span more than fifty years of progress. (Left): the latest 
RCA Victor 3-speed "Victrola" phonograph; (right) and early spring-wound record player. 



Sarnoff Honored By Radio Engineers 
With First Founders Award 

Chairman of RCA Tells Engineers that Radio-Electronics Offers Unlimited Fields for 

New Developments — He Points to Transistors, Electronic Home Appliances, Business 

Machines, Tape- Recording of TV Programs, a True Amplifier of Light, and Other 

New Devices — Industrial Television May Surpass Present Growth of 

Broadcast Television 



B. 



'RIG. General David Sarnoff, Chairman of the 
Board of the Radio Corporation of America, was honored 
as the first recipient of the Founders Award of the 
Institute of Radio Engineers at the annual banquet of 
the I. R. E. at the Waldorf-Astoria on March 25. He was 
cited for "outstanding contributions to the radio engi- 
neering profession through wise and courageous leader- 
ship in the planning and administration of technical de- 
velopments which have greatly increased the imp.ict 
of electronics on the public welfare." 

Acknowledging the Award, General Sarnoff de- 
livered the main address at the annual dinner of the 
I. R. E., which was attended by more than 1,000 engi- 
neers. He told them that their future in radio, elec- 
tronics and television is fascinating and promising, 
and that even their wildest dreams cannot encompass 
all the possibilities open to them in the years ahead. 
The fields of conquest in radio-electronics, he declared, 
are unlimited. 

General Sarnoff told the I.R.E. of RCA's develop- 
ment of a much simplified closed-circuit television sys- 
tem, which provides a vidicon camera attachment for a 
standard home television receiver. The simple attach- 
ment, he said, is connected as easily to a television re- 
ceiver as a record-player and does not affect the normal 
use of the receiver in any way. With the addition of 
this camera unit everyone of the 23,000,000 television 
receivers now in use becomes a potential closed-circuit 
system for schools, the home and other places. 

"Until now," he added, "industrial television has 
been utilized mainly by larger business and industrial 
organizations, but the reduction in cost brings it within 
reach of thousands of small businesses." 

General Sarnoff reported that uses are foreseen for 
closed-circuit TV in hotels, department stores and other 
business establishments. A visual intercommunication 
system between offices for checking papers and docu- 
ments, between office, factory and warehouse, can now 
be realized economically, he stated, and declared: 

RADIO AGE 3 



"One of the largest fields ahead for the use of 
closed-circuit television is the home itself. Closed- 
circuit sound systems are familiar to Americans. We 
think nothing of voice communication between rooms 
in the same house, between offices in the same build- 
ing, between upstairs and downstairs. We are destined, 
I believe, to become equally familiar with closed-circuit 
systems of sight transmission. 

"When the cost of the camera attachments is suffi- 
ciently low to permit their use in the average home 
they may make the television receiver truly the control 



Brig. General David SarnofF (right) Board Chairman of 
ihe Radio Corporation of America, accepts the first 
Founders Av/ard of the Institute of Radio Engineers from 
James W. McRae, president of the Institute. The 
presentation took place at the annual banquet of the 
I.R.E. on March 25. 





Dr. V. K. Zworykin, (right) Vice President and Technical Consultant, RCA Laboratories 

Division, and staff members, demonstrate simplified closed-circuit television system 

for the home, using Vidicon camera attached to standard home receiver. Others, 

left to right, are G. W. Gray, W. S. Pike and L. E. Flory. 



center of the home. The snap of a switch will turn the 
receiver from the broadcast program to view the chil- 
dren asleep in the nursery or at play in the yard, or 
the cooking on the kitchen range. The housewife will 
not only hear but see the caller at the door before she 
opens it." 

Praising the engineers and their contributions to 
national defense. General Sarnoff called them "soldiers 
of science, defenders of the flag." They too, he said, 
are in the front line that bulwarks progress and pros- 
perity. 

"The future," he declared, "is in your hands and 
those of the engineers who will follow in your foot- 
steps as we have followed the signposts erected by 
Marconi, DeForest, Fessenden, Armstrong, Zworykin, 
DuMont, Farnsworth — and others who have marched 
to fame in the I. R. E.'s great cavalcade of science and 
engineering. 

"Between now and 1960 - — and that is only seven 
years away — great changes in industry will take place 
as a result of developments in solid-state electronics. 
Indeed, the vacuum tube is approaching its 50th an- 
niversary confronted by a mighty competitor — the 
transistor. 

"Present day electronic devices, instruments and 
systems will be transistorized. This new tool of science 
will widen the usefulness of electronics. It will spread 
its applications into many fields which the electron 
tube has not been able to serve. 

"Within these next few years we should not be 



surprised to see electronic appliances find their way 
into the home. Air conditioners, using electronics, 
eliminating motors, blowers and compressors, and there- 
fore noiseless in operation, may lead a mighty proces- 
sion of household products to new markets." 

Industrial electronics offer many opportunities for 
substantial development and expansion, continued 
General Sarnoff, saying: 

"It will revolutionize many phases of business, espe- 
cially within large organizations. For example, electronic 
computers can translate, process, compute, store and 
print pertinent facts and information. They simplify the 
task, greatly increase the efficiency and perform the 
functions of an accounting system with utmost speed 
and accuracy. 

"Electronics will change clerical operations, relieve 
men of routine and drudgery and effect enormous sav- 
ings in time, money and materials. The world of busi- 
ness machines is ripe for electronics. 

"Electronics can also serve in other directions. It 
promises new aids to health, safety and better living. 
There are countless applications for the development 
of inspection methods to insure the highest purity in 
liquids, vaccines, drugs and all bottled beverages, in- 
cluding milk. Electronics becomes the foe of impurity 
and contamination in all bottled, packaged or canned 
products." 

He asserted that thus far the phenomenal growth 
of broadcast television has overshadowed many other 
applications which operate over closed-circuit systems. 



4 RADIO AGE 



and constitute the growing field of industrial television. 
He continued: 

"Wherever danger, remoteness or discomfort pre- 
clude the presence of a human observer, the industrial 
television camera can take his place. Handling of ex- 
plosives, pouring of castings, watching the operations of 
furnaces and remote power sub-stations are examples 
of television's usefulness to industry. 

"As yet only a negligible fraction of the potential 
of industrial television has been tapped. The major 
obstacle has been cost. That obstacle is being overcome 
by light-weight equipment using the vidicon camera 
tube. The dimensions of industrial television may sur- 
pass the growth in broadcast television we are now 
witnessing. 

"Schools, in which television sets are becoming more 
and more a standard classroom fixture, may employ 
their TV sets to bring talks and demonstrations to the 
entire school or to selected classes, without the loss of 
time or the confusion attendant upon a call to as- 
sembly. On college campuses the linking of the lecture 
halls by television will permit exchange of instruction 
between depanments, adding to the variety and inter- 
est of the courses. In biological research and technical 
education this form of television has proved a valuable 
tool. 

"The availability of a simple closed-circuit system 
will put the television microscope as a new instrument 
for instruction within reach of every high school and 
college in the country." 




Point-contact type transistors before and after embed- 
ment in plastic housing. 



General Sarnoflf recalled that in 1951, on the occa- 
sion of his 45 years in radio, when the RCA Labora- 
tories at Princeton, N. J., were named "The David 
Sarnoff Research Center," he had asked for the "three 
presents" for his fiftieth anniversary in radio in 1956 
— the tape recorder, an electronic air-conditioner and 
a true amplifier of light. Recently, he said that he was 
given a preview at the RCA Laboratories of some pre- 
liminary steps toward these 1956 anniversary presents. 

"I was surprised at the demonstration I saw of a 
television program coming from New York and being 
simultaneously recorded on tape in the Princeton Labor- 
atories 45 miles away. The recording was played back 
instantly. The quality of the recorded picture still needs 
improvement — but even its present performance con- 
vinced me that I will have the television tape recorder 
before the time I specified. 

Tape Recordings Will Obsolete Films for TV 

"Tape recordings will obsolete the use of film for 
television and reduce over-all costs. Small degradations 
which mark the various steps in the production of a 
film, creating a cumulative effect in the final print, will 
be eliminated. This new method will revolutionize the 
entire art. As a simpler and cheaper process, it will 
extend into color television. And it may extend into 
the motion picture industry as well. 

"As you all know, the recording of sound on mag- 
netic tape already has reached a high degree of perfec- 
tion. When recorded sound has served its purpose it 
can be wiped oflF and the tape used over again. I be- 
lieve that we now stand on the threshold of the same 
service for sight." 

General Sarnoff said that the second "present" re- 
quested of RCA engineers two years ago — the all- 
electronic air-conditioner — is "still in the embryonic 
stage, but I saw signs of life!" He declared that the 
third "present" — the true amplifier of light — is the 
toughest problem to solve, but added: 

"As you know, the present method is first to con- 
vert the light into electricity, next to amplify it, and 
finally to convert the electricity back into light. Most 
of today's limitations of television are due to this 
complicated and inefficient method of handling light. 
I still believe that one of these days we shall learn 
how to amplify light directly." 

Viewing the future, General Sarnoff said: 

"I hold to the conviction that if we intelligently 

accept the challenges that spring from our opportunities, 

the wonders we have witnessed in the past fifty years 

will be dwarfed. Indeed, the advances of the next half 

(Continued on page 32) 



RADIO AGE 5 



Compatible Color TV Authorization Urged 
by RCA Before House Committee 



Dr. Engstrom of RCA Laboratories Divhioii 

Says RCA is Prepared to Expedite Production 

of Receivers for Sale to Public 

JLhe Radio Corporation of America recommended on 
March 24 that the Federal Communications Commis- 
sion immediately authorize commercial broadcasts of 
compatible color television signals and said that it is 
ready to commence such color broadcasts at once and 
to expedite the production of color sets for sale to 
the public. 

Dr. Elmer W. Engstrom, Vice President in Charge, 
RCA Laboratories Division, appearing as the first wit- 
ness in an investigation of the present status of color 
television by the House Committee on Interstate and 
Foreign Commerce, testified that RCA has spent more 
than $20,000,000 in the development of color television, 
$5,000,000 in the last year. 

"We have the know-how to broadcast color pro- 
grams, we have the know-how to build the equipment 
to do the job, and we have the know-how to build the 
sets that will receive these color programs," Dr. Engstrom 
said. "In addition, we have a nucleus of trained per- 
sonnel ready and waiting to do the job." 

Dr. Engstrom stated that RCA does not believe that 
the present FCC standards for incompatible color are 
satisfactory, because: "First, the more than 22 million 
black-and-white television receivers now in the hands 
of the American public, representing an investment by 
the public of billions of dollars, are 'blind' to incom- 
patible color broadcasts. Second, the present incompat- 
ible color standards are, in our opinion, unsatisfactory 



House Committee Views Color TV 
at Princeton and New York 
On April 14, members of the House Com- 
mittee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce visited 
the David Sarnoff Research Center of RCA at 
Princeton, N. J., to witness a demonstration of 
compatible color television. During the afternoon 
of the same day, the Committee members inspected 
the NBC color television studio at the Colonial 
Theatre in New York. 




Dr. Elmer W. Engstrom, vice president in 
charge, RCA Laboratories Division, ap- 
pears before the House Committee investi- 
gating status of color television. 

from a technical engmeering, and commercial standpoint 
for broadcast use. 

"We knew from our own experience that the author- 
ization of an incompatible system would be a mistake. 
Today, we are convinced more than ever that we were 
correct in our earlier conclusion that the only system 
which would succeed is a compatible all-electronic 
system." 

In the interests of bringing color television to the 
American public at the earliest possible date. Dr. Eng- 
strom said, RCA believes that the Commission legally 
can proceed without the time and expense of formal 
hearings in this matter. The Commission and its staff, 
he continued, have been kept advised of the extensive 
research and development work which has been done 
on compatible co!or television by RCA and other mem- 
bers of the National Television System Committee. 

Dr. Engstrom said that RCA recommends: 

"That the Federal Communications Commission im- 
mediately authorize commercial broadcasts of compatible 
color television signals in addition to the broadcasting 
of incompatible color television signals it has previously 
authorized. 

"The broadcasting of compatible color television will 
not interfere in any way with the present service being 



6 RADIO AGE 



rendered to bl.ick-and-white television set owners. Nor 
will there be any interference with the broadcasting of 
incompatible color television should any television sta- 
tion wish to broadcast incompatible color signals." 

Dr. Engstrom said that RCA is "today prepared to 
commence broadcasting compatible color programs 
which can be received in black-and-white on sets now 
in the hands of the public without changing these sets 
at all and without any present set owner being required 
to buy any new equipment to receive these broadcasts. 

"We are also prepared to expedite the production 
of color sets so that those members of the public who 
want to receive our compatible color broadcasts in 
color can buy color receivers. 

"Given this opportunity to judge for itself the ad- 
vantages or disadvantages of the compatible and in- 
compatible system of color television, the American 
public would make the final decision as to which system 
it prefers. In our opinion, this is the quickest way to 
bring color television service to the American public." 

RCA Strongly in Favor of Color TV 

RCA has been, and is today, strongly in favor of 
color television. Dr. Engstrom said, and is doing every- 
thing that it knows how to do to advance color tele- 
vision for the home. RCA has everything to gain, he 
pointed out, by bringing color television to the Ameri- 
can public at the earliest possible date. Dr. Engstrom 
said that RCA has planned to file a petition with the 
FCC for the approval of standards for compatible color 
television within six months or possibly sooner. 

He continued: 

"RCA engineers are now working with the National 




Television System Committee to complete field tests 
of technical signal standards for compatible color tele- 
vision. Rulings of the Federal Communications Com- 
mission require that field tests be completed before any 
petition for new color television standards will be 
granted by the Commission. 

"RCA is already manufacturing prototype compat- 
ible color receivers, tri-color tubes and studio equip- 
ment. When the Commission approves technical stand- 
ards for compatible color television, RCA will manu- 
facture and sell this apparatus to the public, to broad- 
casters and to other manufacturers. 

"At the same time, the National Broadcasting Com- 
pany, Inc., an RCA subsidiary, will commence com- 
mercial broadcasts of compatible color television pro- 
grams and will offer these programs to sponsors and 
to NBC affiliated stations throughout the United States." 

Reporting on RCA's color television preparations in 
research, engineering, manufacturing, and broadcasting. 
Dr. Engstrom announced these major achievements: 

1. Tri-Color Camera Tube: RCA has completed 
the basic work on a tri-color electron tube for use 
in a color television camera. This will make it pos- 
sible at a future time to eliminate the present three- 
tube camera for compatible color television and to 
substitute a simple and efficient single-tube color 
television camera. This relates to the "pick-up" of 
television programs at the transmitting end and does 
not involve any question of standards. 

2. Pilot Production: RCA has invested substantial 
sums in the establishment of a pilot operation for 
tri-color tube production in its Lancaster, Pennsyl- 
vania, tube factory. This manufacturing unit, which 
will have a production capacity of 2,000 color tubes 
per month, can serve as the prototype for other units 
in the establishment of factory facilities for large- 
scale, high-speed production. 

3. Color Studios: NBC has a color studio in Radio 
City, New York, and has now completed equipping 
a second television studio for compatible color tele- 
vision. This second color studio occupies the whole 
of the Colonial Theatre at 62nd Street and Broad- 
way in New York. It is equipped with all new color 
studio equipment built by the RCA Victor Division. 

4. Trained Personnel: A special group recruited 
from the regular NBC staff has devoted its efforts to 
the development of color television broadcasting. 
In addition, other NBC personnel have been assigned 

(Continued on page 16) 

Tricolor kinescope tubes in pilot production at the RCA 
plant in Lancaster, Penna. 

RADIO AGE 7 



They Keep 
.Communications 
Movme . . . 



Oh ship aud shore, in tropics and in the 
arctic, hundreds of trouble shooters, 
trained by RCA, keep the vital ivire-and- 
radio systems of our armed forces in top 
working condition. 



A T'S a small world today because of communications. 
Korea, 8,500 miles away, is our neighbor, Hawaii can 
be called on the phone, Greenland is easily available — 
all of these places and many more are "just around the 
corner" as long as there are enough engineers to keep 
our highly complex electronics systems operating. 

To see that these circuits are not interrupted is the 
job of the Government Service Division of the RCA 
Service Company in carrying out its program of assist- 
ance to the U. S. Armed Forces and our Allies the world 
over. Engineers of the Division, under contract to the 
Army, Navy and Air Force, are working on more than 
400 different types of military electronics equipment. 

Although the Government Service Division is only 
a little over two years old, its nucleus goes back to the 
time before World War II, when the U. S. Government 
suddenly discovered that it lacked sufficient numbers of 
well-qualified technicians to cope with the mass of 
complex electronic equipments being rushed to our field 
forces. 

When the shooting in Korea began, 50 people were 
assigned by RCA to Government work. This included 
office force and field engineers. Today, the Government 
Service Division employs hundreds of persons. 

The objective of the Division, as outlined by Pinck- 
ney B. Reed, vice-president in charge, "is to provide the 
best possible electronics-assistance program to the 
Armed Forces, to make available trained field engineers 
backed up by the resources of RCA." 

As a result of this long-range planning, RCA is 
prepared to assist in the five basic electronics needs of 
the Armed Forces: 1) supplying field engineers; 2) 
preparing technical publications designed and written 
by specialists; 3) developing training devices to give 
effective and rapid instruction in electronics fundamen- 

8 RAD/O AGE 




tals and military electronics circuitry; 4) working out 
training programs for military personnel, streamlined 
through the experience of fieldmen who work with 
military leaders and RCA experts; and 5) setting up 
special projects, which include repair and modification 
facilities, and unusual and specialized engineering oper- 
ations. 

Since three out of ten field engineers eventually turn 
up overseas, a man, before he is assigned to this Division, 
must agree to spend at least one year abroad. After 
signing up, he is put through a six-week indoctrination 
course at the home office in Gloucester, N. J. 




P. B. Reed (right), vice president in charge of the RCA 

Government Service Division, and engineer Harold Dick 

stand beside a roadside sign in Tokyo. 



Basically, the men are assigned to install, maintain 
and repair electronic equipment of all types and to 
instruct military people in its operation, installation and 
service. Actually, their contributions are limited only 
by the vision and initiative of the individual. In combat 
areas, these engineers share the life of soldiers and 
sailors. In the world's capitals, they learn the language 
and become a part of the lives of nationals. The ability 
to get along with strangers, to become integrated quickly 
into the life around them is of utmost importance to the 
personal success of field engineers. 

Technicians' Deeds Cited by Military 

Home office files are loaded with letters from com- 
manding officers of commendation for "special service" 
by our field engineers. In these reports are the names of 
men who have helped to accomplish actual combat 
missions, a number whose standard equipment includes 
a carbine. 

Captain John Taylor, USN, commander of Destroyer 
Squadron Six, commended the performance of David 
Rennie, in these words: 

"I have noticed that the usefulness of civilian tech- 
nicians on independent duty of this sort depends greatly 
on the initiative of the individual concerned . . . Mr. 
Rennie has displayed such initiative." 

A new method of handling low-frequency transmis- 
sion in the North Atlantic, suggested originally by John 
Heffernan, an RCA field engineer, was under intensive 
examination in 1952. If the initial success continues, 
Heffernan will have made a really significant contribu- 
tion to the reliability of military communications in 
this critical area. The problem is of utmost importance, 
because of the position this installation holds in the 
global communications network. Heflernan's idea in- 
volved the use of pulse detection, coupled with a par- 
ticular form of loop antenna. The combination shows 





Field engineer Ear! Cowden drew an assignment that 
took him to the Behring Sea. 



An RCA expert in maintaining radio teletype machines 

and circuits imparts his knowledge to U. S. airmen at an 

unnamed base. 



promise of overcoming such obstacles as magnetic 
storms and the type of static caused by ice and snow 
on antennas. 

The first wave of Government Service Division 
engineers arrived in Korea, in September, 1950. Morris 
Patneaude, one of the first volunteers for front-line duty, 
landed at a soggy airstrip almost at the same time as 
the enemy, then thrusting downward from the north. 
Technical service was a life-or-death matter. With car- 
bine at hand, he followed the fighting front up and 
down the peninsula, helping to keep communications 
open through the terrible Korean winter. For his devo- 
tion to duty, RCA gave him the Award of Merit, the 
Company's highest honor which is presented annually 
to only 15 out of more than 20,000 employees. 

When Patneaude was brought home, he was re- 
placed by Chuck Lane who maintained tradition. When 
rotation turned up his number, Lane refused to come 
home because "the job is still going on over here." 

George Ross, who came back to the States last fall 
for a visit, after two years in the Far East, is now back 
at his Yokohama post. He is group leader, inspector 
and technical advisor in the radar shop, U. S. Signal 
Corps Depot. One of his special contributions, com- 
mended by Brig. General Hammond, was his research 
on the SCR-548 radar set, during which he tested the 
effects of high humidity on the accuracy of information 
fed to warplane gun directors. 

RADIO AGE 9 



Bill Bjorman, also in the Far East, found his second 
year "more interesting than the first." According to a 
letter of commendation, "he went into combat areas 
... In one instance, his work was responsible for 
establishing a very critically-required communications 
link in time to fulfill a classified mission." 

John Longenecker covered 50,000 miles of the 
Pacific on his solo job, flying from one island to another 
as RCA's representative with the 1808th A ACS Wing. 
He spent a year changing continuous wave ( air-to- 
ground) communications to voice. He did the field 
work, drew up plans, scrounged hard-to-get equipment, 
and assisted on-the-spot installation. 

Reliability is Essential 

Because the field engineer is on his own with an 
important mission to carry out, reliability is essential. 
The Company carefully screens each applicant for char- 
acter as well as technical knowledge and skill. Because 
they must work at all times with a minimum of super- 
vision, one of the big problems is to keep them from 
feeling cut ofl^ from the Company as a whole. 

Refresher courses are held periodically for field men. 
Once a year, managers and supervisors are recalled to 
the home office for a conference. They meet with vice- 
president Reed and his stafl^, consisting of Col. Mike 
Fried, assistant; Tom Whitney, operations manager; 
Paul Melroy, contact negotiations manager; Andy Con- 



rad, chief engineer; Lloyd Yoh, contract administrator; 
Dick Propst, Air Force contract manager; Louis J. 
Depass, Army and Navy contract manager, and Jim 
Jackson, technical publications head. 

The biggest user of RCA's services is the Air Force. 
Under contract with the Air Defense Command alone 
there are more than 150 engineers assigned to bases and 
radar sites throughout continental U. S. A. Many more 
are with the Airways and Air Communications Service. 
The majority are overseas in Alaska, Canal Zone, Korea, 
Europe, etc., where they are supervising the installation 
and servicing of radio and teletype communications gear, 
and navigational aids. 

In Europe and North Africa and in this country, the 
Tactical Air Command is employing RCA field men on 
navigational aids, air and ground radar equipment. 
Many are employed by the Strategic Air Command in 
this country, Puerto Rico and Okinawa. 

The Bureau of Ships has more than 100 men at 
work with the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets, and at bases 
overseas in the Atlantic area ( Mediterranean, Cuba ) , 
Japanese areas and Pearl Harbor. These engineers are 
installing, maintaining and training naval people in 
shipborne radar, shipborne and ground station commu- 
nications, loran and sonar. 

In this country, men under contract to the Navy are 
doing project engineering, producing shipyard guidance 
plans for installation of electronic equipment on board 
fighting ships. 




UHIKSIBSI 


m 


T-^ X ^ U 




1 





Technicians of the RCA Government Service Division explain the circuitry and maintenance procedures 
of radio equipment to Netherlands' soldiers (left) and to members of the Air Defense Network (right). 



?0 RADIO AGE 



Thirty-Four Million TV Viewers 
Watch Award of "Oscars'' 



JL OR the first time in history, television audiences 
throughout America and radio listeners in many parts 
of the world shared the suspense and excitement of 
the annual "Oscar" awards ceremony of the Academy 
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. On Thursday, 
March 19, the National Broadcasting Company tele- 
cast and broadcast the proceedings which originated 
alternately in Hollywood and New York. An estimated 
audience of 34,000,000 televiewers witnessed the two- 
hour program which was sponsored by the RCA 
Victor Division. 

Sixty-one stations of the NBC television network 
and 195 NBC radio stations carried the ceremony. 
NBC fed the Armed Forces Radio Service which 
beamed the program through 69 foreign stations to 
American troops stationed throughout the world. The 
APRS station at Bremerhaven and stations of its Blue 
Danube network broadcast the "Oscar" ceremonies 
behind the Iron Curtain. Other APRS stations as far 
north as Point Barrow, Alaska, and as far south as 
Pago Pago, Samoa, carried NBC's broadcast of the 
presentations to movieland winners. 

Bob Hope, noted comedian, served as master-of- 
ceremonies for the Hollywood ceremonies. Conrad 
Nagel, a former president of the Motion Picture 
Academy, was emcee in New York. 

Top honors went to Cecil B. DeMille's "Greatest 
Show on Earth" which won the "Oscar" for the best 
picture of 1952. Shirley Booth was named best actress 
of the year for her first starring screen performance in 
"Come Back Little Sheba." Gary Cooper was named 
best actor for his leading role in Stanley Kramer's 
"High Noon." Actor John 'Wayne accepted the award 
for Cooper. 

Television added glamour to this year's Academy 
award presentations. NBC-TV cameras, manned by 
cameramen dressed formally in dinner jackets, captured 
scenes of the arrival of limousines at the RKO Pantages 
Theatre in Hollywood, and the capacity audience there 
and in the International Theatre in New York. Other 
NBC-TV cameras caught the faces of the winners as 
they walked from their seats to the stage to accept 
their "Oscars." NBC provided glimpses of the back- 
stage rooms at the Pantages where members of the 
press interviewed the winners. 

RAD\0 AGE n 



Robert Welch, an NBC-TV producer, was in charge 
of network coverage of the 25th Annual Awards 
ceremony. Richard Clemmer produced the first tele- 
cast of the New York "Oscar" ceremonies in history. 
■William Bennington was TV director in Hollywood, 
Warren Jacober in New York. 

All but two of this year's "Oscar" winners were in 
Hollywood. In New York, Shirley Booth hurried from 
the Empire Theatre where she is starring in a Broad- 
way play entitled "The Time of the Cuckoo" in time 
to receive her "Oscar" from Fredric March. Miss 
Booth's brief word of thanks to "old friends for faith, 
new friends for hope and everyone for their charity" 
brought more than a few tears to TV audiences and 
to the audiences seated in the theatre. Boris Vermont 
won the other New York bestowed award for produc- 
ing the year's best one-reel short subject, "Light In 
The Window." 

John Ford, who was in England, won his sixth 
award for best director, this year for Argosy-Republic's 
"The Quiet Man." Gloria Grahame earned the "Oscar" 
as best supporting actress for her part in "The Bad 
and The Beautiful." Anthony Quinn won the award 
as best supporting actor for his part in "Viva Zapata!" 

"Forbidden Games," a French picture released in 
the U. S. by Times Film Corporation, won the award 
as best foreign language film of the year. 



hilm star Shirley Booth receives "Oscar" from Fredric 
March as "best actress of the year," in ceremonies tele- 
cast and broadcast coast to coast by NBC under the 
sponsorship of RCA Victor Division. 




Electronics' Next Era 








KEY TO ILLUSTRATIONS 


Top row: 


Chin 


ese Abacus, Grecian Wax Tablet and Napier's 


Bones. U 


wer 


ow: Qui// and Parchment, Slide Rule. Adding 


Machine, 


"Men 


nary" Tube and Typhoon Analogue Computer. 



By Dr. Irving Wolff, 

Director of Research, 
RCA Laboratories Division., 



JLhe transistor and some of its companions in non- 
vacuum devices appear to have arrived at the right 
time to make practical some dreams which have been 
developing and gathering headway since shortly be- 
fore World War II. I am referring to what might 
popularly be called a super-electronic brain. 

The predecessor of today's electronic computer was 
first the abacus and later the office mechanical calculat- 
ing machine which performed some simple arithmetic 
processes such as addition and multiplication. This was 
followed in succession by Vannevar Bush's mechanical 
calculator at the IMassachusetts Institute of Technology 



which could solve some simple problems in calculus 
and, later, the early electronic computers using vacuum 
tubes which could solve the same type of problems more 
rapidly. Meanwhile, the number of vacuum tubes in 
each of these devices grew from one or two to a total 
of thousands. Special buildings were required to iiouse 
these computers and air-conditioning systems were 
needed to take away the waste heat power of their tubes. 
Our general concepts of the functions performed 
and the method of operation of these machines was 
becoming much better organized. We began to realize 
that the ability to store information (memory) was 
an important function of the electronic computer. We 
realized the analogy between the operation of the elec- 
tronic machines and our thought processes. Some ma- 



]2 RADIO AGE 



chines have been built which can start in ignorance 
and can learn by trial and error, a method of learning 
which is used by many animals. We could see how 
to make the electronic machines many-fold more useful 
but the thought of putting in and maintaining the 
thousands of vacuum tubes required seemed fantastic. 
The advent of the magnetic and ferro-electric switches 
and memories and the development of the transistor 
have now changed our concepts of what is practical. We 
can foresee the time when we will not be staggered 
by the thought of a million or more electronic ampli- 
fiers or switches in a single machine. A recent test 
showed that the power consumption taken by the so- 
called counters in one machine could be reduced by a 
factor of 30 — from 18,000 watts to 600 watts — 
by the substitution of early experimental transistors for 
tubes. This is only a start compared to what we will 
be able to accomplish within a few years. 

What does this all mean in terms of the services 
that can be rendered by electronic computer equipment? 
At this time we probably see only a little of what is 
ahead. One thing is, however, apparent. We will be 
able to design equipment of enormously greater com- 
plexity than any that, up to now, has been considered 
practical. 



1 don't believe that the full impact of what the 
electronic brain will mean to our civilization is generally 
realized. On the one hand it will act as a labor-saving 
machine in many business activities which use relatively 
unskilled clerical labor; on the other it will provide 
the individual with enormously greater mental power. 
Just as a large scoop shovel gives the individual power 
to move tons of earth with the touch of a few controls — 
something which would have taken days to do by 
hand — so the electronic computer will permit the 
solution of problems in a few days which the individual 
would not have been able to solve during his lifetime. 

For one hundred years or more we have been going 
through what has been called the industrial revolution. 
This has involved mainly the substitution of machines 
for manual labor in the production area. We have just 
scratched the surface in the substitution of machines 
for people in the mental and clerical areas of industry. 
We can foresee that the new electronic computers will 
cause just as great a change in locations where large 
numbers of clerical workers are used, as the develop- 
ment of machines caused in the manual labor field. 
They can, for example, be used for automatic inventory 
control, cost accounting and billing. Presently, a system 
is actually under construction for the Ordinance De- 
l Continued on page 31) 





L. W Teegarden 

Election of L. W. Teegarden as 
Executive Vice President of the Radio 
Corporation of America, was an- 
nounced on February 19 by Frank 
M. Folsoin, President. 

Mr. Teegarden, a pioneer merchan- 
diser, has been active in the electrical 
and electronics industries for many 
years. Prior to assuming his new 
post, Mr. Teegarden was Vice Presi- 
dent in Charge of Technical Products 
of the RCA Victor Division. 

Since joining RCA in 1930, as a 
District Sales Manager, Mr. Tee- 
garden has held increasingly respon- 
sible positions on behalf of RCA 
Victor activities. 

Six years later Mr. Teegarden was 
named Assistant General Sales Man- 
ager of all RCA Victor product 
activities. He was appointed General 
Manager of the Tube Department in 
1944, and a year later was named 
Vice President in charge of this 
Department. 

Mr. Teegarden's responsibilities 
were increased in 1949 to include, in 
addition to his other activities, super- 
vision of RCA Victor Engineering 
Products Department, which has since 
established new sales records under 
his direction. 

Mr. Teegarden is a native of Salem, 
Ohio, and now resides with his wife 
and two children in Berwyn, Pa., a 
suburb of Philadelphia. 



RCA Executives 
Promoted to 
New Positions 



Edward M. Tuft was elected Vice 
President in Charge of Personnel ( in- 
cluding labor relations) of the Radio 
Corporation of America on March 5. 
In his new porition, Mr. Tuft will be 
the general administrator of RCA's 
over-all personnel activities and or- 
ganization development as well as 
labor relations. 

Mr. Tuft has been Vice President 
in Charge of Organization and De- 
velopment of the RCA Victor Divi- 
sion since July, 1951, coordinating 
activities concerned with developing 
manpower. He served previously for 
four years as Director of Personnel of 
that Division and as a Vice President 
from October 1950. 

Mr. Tuft joined the RCA Tube De- 
partment in 1930 as an inspector. He 
rose through various promotions to 
Manager of Personnel at the Harri- 
son, N. J., plant in 1941 where he 
remained until his transfer to the 
RCA Victor Division six years later. 
He studied industrial relations at 
Princeton University and is a Mem- 
ber of the American Management 
Association. 





Edward M. Tuft 



Thompson H. Mitchell 

Thompson H. Mitchell was elected 
President of RCA Communications, 
Inc., on April 1. Mr. Mitchell, Exec- 
utive Vice President of RCA Com- 
munications since 1944, succeeds H. 
C. Ingles who has retired. 

Mr. Mitchell, a graduate of the 
United States Naval Academy at 
Annapolis ( Class of '25 ) , entered the 
communications field in 1927. He . 

worked for two years in the Pacific 
Sales Division and Engineering De- 
partment of RCA Communications, 
and in 1929 became District Manager 
for the Radiomarine Corporation of 
America in Los Angeles. 

He returned to the United States 
in 1935 to become Manager of the 
Southern California District Offices 
of RCA Communications. He con- 
tinued in that position until 1942, 
when he accepted a commission of 
Major in the U. S. Army and was 
assigned to the Office of the Chief 
Signal Officer. In Match, 1943, he 
was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel 
in Charge of the Traffic Operational 
Engineering Section of the Army 
Communications Service, Washing- 
ton, D. C. Subsequently, he was pro- 
moted to Colonel, a rank he now 
holds in the Army Reserve. 

Mr. Mitchell rejoined RCA Com- 
munications in 1944 as General Man- 
ager and soon after was elected 
Executive Vice President. 



74 rad;o age 



NBC's 
Film Division: 

irhat it is—binr it openites 

By Robert W. SarnofF 

Vice President in Charge of Film Division, 
National Broadcasting Company 



A, 



, closely-knit activity which has expanded so rapidly 
that to many outsiders it must have appeared to be 
Topsylike in its growth, the Film Division of the 
NBC Television network is now functioning as the 
third principal operating division of the company. The 
other major operating units are the Networks Division, 
which includes radio and TV networks, and the Stations 
Division, embracing the five radio and five television 
stations owned and operated by NBC. 

This expansion of the Film Division has been ac- 
complished in the relatively short period of 10 months 
since it was established in June, 1952. On March 3 of 
this year it was set up as a self-contained operation by 
NBC's president, Frank White. Under this new arrange- 
ment, we hope to make the Division a centralized source 
of film services to the network, to the owned-and- 
operated stations, to our affiliates, and to other enter- 
prises which may want our help. 

Currently the Film Division functions with four 
major departments: sales production, film-and-kinescope 
operations ( which includes the development of our vast 
film library), and the procurement of films for showing 
on the network as well as on our owned-and-operated 
stations. 

The department heads report to Carl Stanton, di- 
rector of the Film Division, a recently created position. 
Stanton was formerly manager of TV network programs 
for NBC. His task will now be to operate the Film 
Division and to shoulder much of the increasing ad- 
ministrative burden, so that more time can be devoted 
to the all-important job of long-range planning by the 
vice-president in charge of the Division. 

The growing sales force, managed by John B. Cron, 
now has offices in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles 
— and will open additional offices as markets and sta- 
tions increase. Among the major film series which are 
currently offered for sale to local stations and local 
sponsors all over the world ( Canada, Cuba, Mexico and 




Some of the 15,000,000 feet of motion picture film 
stored in NBC's Film Library. 



Italy are already included) are "Douglas Fairbanks 
Presents," "Hopalong Cassidy," "The LiUi Palmer Show, ' 
"Dangerous Assignment," and a daily and weekly film- 
news summary. 

Film Featmes for Local Sponsors 

Such outstanding NBC network TV series as 
"Victory at Sea," and "The Doctor" (under the new 
title of "The Visitor") will soon be offered for local 
sponsorship in line with our belief that a popular film 
program should remain available to the general public 
and to new television stations as they go on the air. 

In other words, through reissue, these programs 
will penetrate to millions of homes which m.iy not have 
been reached on the first run. Fine network programs 
are a source for syndication after their initial broadcasts. 

One of the advantages we can now offer local 
sponsors and stations when we sell an NBC Film pro- 
gram is a complete, professional and streamlined ad- 
vertising-promotion-merchandising-publicity-exploitation 
campaign to go with the program. 



RAD/O AGE ?5 



The production department, under Stanton Osgood, 
manager, is responsible for supervising the production 
of film series — such as "Douglas Fairbanks Presents" — 
made especially for the NBC Film Division. It is also 
responsible for the re-editing of programs similar to 
"The Doctor," and the production of special film shows 
from footage now in the growing NBC film library. 
We may be able to develop everything from quiz shows 
to weather, spons and special holiday services to local 
stations. 

Film and Kinescope Operations and Services, 
originally part of the television network, is managed by 
Frank Lepore within the new Film Division sphere of 
operations. This department handles the shipment of 
kinescopes of NBC network programs to our affiliates 
and to our owned-and-operated stations, as well as the 
shipping of our film programs which are syndicated 
on a local basis. This has now become one of the largest 
film exchanges in the country, and we hope to expand 
this phase of our activities to include a shipping service 
for other film distributors. 

More than 2,000 Subjects in Library 

We expect also to expand the scope of the business 
done by the film library, now one of the largest of its 
kind in the world. In fireproof vaults at 105 East 106th 
Street, New York, are row on row of metal containers 
holding in excess of 15,000,000 feet of film. More than 
2,000 subjects are covered and catalogued so effectively 
that the most abstruse topic can be located in a matter 
of minutes. 

With new film arriving at a weekly rate of about 
55,000 feet (principally from the various NBC-TV 
news programs), we expect to make the film library a 
valuable source of film material for operations inside 
and outside of NBC. 

Another important aspect of our work involves the 
procurement of films — features and shorter subjects — 
as a service to the network, to our owned-and-operated 
stations, to our afiiliates, and to any other potential 
customers. David Savage, formerly manager of the 
WCBS-TV Film Depanment in New York, now heads 
Film Procurement for us. Last year, though not a part 
of the Film Division, this operation provided more than 
600 films and short subjects for network programming 
and WNBT, New York. 

As a result of the establishment of the Film Divi- 
sion as a separate operating unit of the company, a busi- 
ness office has been created. Managed by Robert Ander- 
son, formerly of the NBC comptroller's office, the Film 
Division business office handles all budgeting, account- 
ing, billing, pricing and office management. 

It is much too early to foretell the future pattern 




Readying a film program for air express delivery by 
NBC to its west coast television affiliate. 

of the television broadcasting industry. Only time and 
experience will indicate the relationships of film and 
live programming. Our present objective is to develop 
the Film Division on a sound business basis with a 
strong organization and with enough flexibility to meet 
the challenges ahead. We expect not only to be a part 
of the future pattern but perhaps to have some in- 
fluence in establishing it. 

Compatible Color TV 

(Continued from page 7) 

to color on a limited basis in order that the per- 
sonnel with experience in this field would be in- 
creased. RCA Victor Division has developed a nucleus 
of trained operators, supervisors, and engineers for a 
tri-color tube mass production unit. 

5. Field Testing: During 1952, RCA and NBC car- 
ried on field testing of color receivers, exhaustive 
tests devoted to compatibility, and other technical 
phases of the compatible color system. 

6. Experimental Broadcasts: Since 1949, NBC has 
been conducting experimental color broadcasts over 
its stations in Washington and New York. During 
that time, compatible color television signals have 
been on the air almost 2,000 hours. 

7. Color Receivers: Since the introduction of our 
early color television receivers models, RCA has con- 
stantly refined and improved color receiver design. 
Current RCA color television receiver models con- 
tain less than one-half the number of tubes required 
by our early laboratory model receivers. 

Dr. Engstrom pointed out that NBC's experimental 
work provides practical solutions to the new problems 
which the broadcaster faces in color. The NBC experi- 
ence, he said, is also valuable as an aid in formulating 
plans to produce commercial programs on a regular basis. 



76 RADIO AGE 




Teleprompter Aids the Orator 



By E. C. Buurma 

Sales Manager, Teleprompler Service, 

RCA Service Co., Inc. 



T 



.HROUGH the use of Teleprompter service, estab- 
lished by the RCA Service Company and now available 
to public speakers in all parts of the United States, 
persons addressing business meetings, conventions and 
public gatherings no longer need worry about forget- 
ting their lines. This new service now offered through 
the district offices of the Service Company in New 
York and Philadelphia, will soon be extended to other 
major cities. In addition to its service, RCA supplies 
Teleprompter equipment on a rental or lease basis. 
Already, one hotel, the Statler in New York, has ar- 
ranged to make the Teleprompter available for banquets, 
sales gatherings and other groups using its public rooms. 

Although the Teleprompter has been in use for less 
than two years, it has won high praise in both tele- 
vision and motion picture fields. 

The Teleprompter service begins with the receipt by 
the Service Company of a typewritten copy of the speech. 
The text is then copied on a continuous roll of specially 
designed, glare-proof paper by an electric typewriter 
called the "Videotyper." This typewriter prints in large- 
size, clear, black letters which may normally be read 
from a distance of 25 feet. A half-hour speech can be 
prepared on the Videotyper in less than two hours. 

After the typed speech has been carefully checked 



by experienced proofreaders, the paper roll is inserted 
into the Teleprompter script machine. An operator sits 
at a master control unit out of sight of the audience, 
and, with a duplicate script before him, can easily 
regulate the speed of the speaker's machine to conform 
with his speed of delivery. If the speaker adds com- 
ments not in the text or is interrupted by applause, the 
operator merely halts the movement of the script. When 
the lecturer returns to the printed speech, the paper 
begins again to move. 

Use of more than one Teleprompter is sometimes 
required when it is desirable for the speaker to move 
about while demonstrating products and using charts 
or other visual aids as may be used at sales meetings, 
training courses or conventions. In such cases, the RCA 
Service Company is equipped to install as many as 
(Continued on page 32) 



SIZE OF 
SCRIPT 

RADIO AGE 17 



Electronic Action in Solids 



By H. W. Leverenz 

RCA Laboratories Division 
Princeton, N. J. 



T 



-HE German word for monument is Denkmal, that 
is, a reminder to think. In the thought-provoking sense, 
this article is a monument to electrons, with special 
emphasis on the innumerable environments in which 
they can exist and exhibit useful activity. 

Electrons, the star performers in electronics, are 
obtained and generally used in combination with other 
particles. It is these other particles that make possible 
so many varieties of electron behavior. Fundamentally, 
then, there is a strong dependence of electronics on 
chemistry. 

It is well known that electrons are negatively 
charged and are intrinsically identical. Relief from 
this monotonous condition is provided by the presence 
of positively charged protons which attract electrons 
monogamously, one electron wedded to each proton. 
A simple pairing-off would provide only hydrogen 
atoms, however, and so it is fortunate that protons can 
cling, with neutrons, as stable groups to form nuclei 
or cores of atoms. The known nuclei contain from one 
to 98 protons, and up to 146 neutrons. 

Electrons cluster around nuclei and neutralize the 
positive charges of the nucleus. The nucleus-plus- 
electrons arrangements afford 98 species of atoms, 
ranging from one electron (hydrogen) to 98 electrons 
(californium). About ninety of these atomic species 
occur in nature and they are the usual chemical ele- 
ments. The others have been synthesized by "atomic- 
energy" techniques. They are particularly radioactive, 
that is, their nuclei disintegrate spontaneously within 
a relatively short time. 

There are noticeable differences of electron be- 
havior in the various atoms. The behavior differences 
occur because a lone electron is bound ( attracted ) more 
securely to a nucleus with many protons than to one 
with fewer protons. Likewise, an electron interacts 
(mostly by replusion) with other electrons, and the 
interaction varies for different numbers of electrons in 
the atom. The number of distinguishable electron en- 
vironments in the 98 different atoms is 4851. That is, 
there are 4851 different energy levels, or strengths of 
bonding, of the electrons in the 98 kinds of atoms. 



It is impressive that from essentially two elementary 
charged particles, the electron and proton, and one 
neutral particle, the neutron, there may be obtained 
98 different atoms. It is even more impressive that the 
atoms can combine with each other to form millions of 
compounds, and the compounds can unite to form 
countless materials. Electrons behave differently in the 
multifarious compounds and materials, where they are 
influenced by numerous unlike atoms and ions. 

There is practical allure in the potentialities of an 
infinite number of materials and electron behaviors. 
There is also a challenge to determine, ( 1 ) all the 
kinds of electron activity, (2) the best material for a 
given activity, and (3) the best techniques for produc- 
ing and using a given material, alone, or in combina- 
tion with others. Research in this field should always 
be interesting, because the possibility of finding new 
and greatly intensified electronic effects is ever present. 

Three Kinds of Electron Activity 

A somewhat similar challenge occurs in games. 
Different kinds of human activity, such as running, 
jumping, and throwing, have been used alone and in 
combination for different games. Recognition of the 
best performer, or group of performers, for a particular 
game is a matter of record. New games and new 
records are always possible. 

Three of the known kinds of electron activity have 
been particularly useful in electronics. They are: 

1. Orientation of the axis of the electron's spin. 

2. Excitation of an electron ( to a higher energy 
level) with subsequent emission of light. 

3. Motion of an electron carrying charge and energy. 
The first two activities are chiefly by electrons that 

are bound in a particular atom, or group of atoms. 
The third activity is by electrons that are freed from 
their parent atoms. These electron activities, with a 
representative solid for each, are outlined in the table. 
Of the listed kinds of electronically active solids, 
all may be used, and many are indispensable, in an 
electronic system such as television. For example, the 
camera tube needs a photoconductor or photoemitter 
to transform light images into freed charge-carrying 
electrons. Free electrons are multiplied in number with 
secondary emitters, which emit several secondary elec- 
trons for each incident electron. In the receiver, ampli- 
fication and detection are done with semiconductors and 



T8 RADIO AGE 



ELECTRON REMAINS BOUND TO, OR NEAR, PARENT ATOM 



^ FERROMAGNETIC SOLIDS (Orientation of Spin) 




TRANSFORMER CORES 

Non-Permaneni (Soff) 




RADIO AND TV 
LOUDSPEAKER CORES 

Permanent (Hard) 



Q LUMINESCENT SOLIDS (Excitation and Photon Er 




DOT-SCREEN TUBE 
FOR COLOR TV 

Spontaneous Emission 




RADAR SCREEN 

Non-Spontaneous Emission 




Carrying a Charge 





VIDICON 

Photoconductors 



Ui 



TRANSISTOR 

Semiconductors 



ELECTRON LEAVES PARENT ATOM, MOVES THROUGH CRYSTAL, 
AND EMERGES INTO SPACE 



Carrying Charge and Energy 



PHOTOTUBES 

Photoemitters 




CATHODES OF 
ELECTRON TUBES 

Thermionic Emitters 



MULTIPLIER TUBES 

Secondary Emitters 



Pictorial representation of the three known l<inds of electron activity and their 
corresponding practical applications. 



RADIO AGE 7 9 



vacuum tubes (which need thermionic emitters). From 
the thermionic-emitter cathode of the kinescope, or 
picture tube, there is produced a beam of free electrons. 
This beam is modulated and then deflected in a scan- 
ning pattern by deflection coils cored with a "soft" fer- 
romagnetic solid, and driven by circuits with similarly 
cored transformers. The electrons in the beam are 
accelerated and expend their energy in a coating of a 
luminescent solid where the original visible image is 
reproduced. Simultaneously, the sound is reproduced 
by a loudspeaker using a "hard" ferromagnetic solid. 
A similar account can be given of the vital role 
of electronically active solids in radio, radar, electron 
microscopes, fluorescent lamps, high-speed computers, 
and many other modern devices. Frequently, the solid 
is custom-made for the particular use. The number of 
useful solids, therefore, is much larger than the few 
listed in the table. 

Inorganic Materials Most Fruitful 

The best solids for the uses outlined in the table 
are inorganic and crystalline. Inorganic materials have 
been most fruitful because they may be made with 
all kinds of atoms, they have many degrees and com- 
binations of ionic and non-ionic bonding, and they are 
relatively stable. Most of the useful materials are 
made by solid-state reactions at temperatures above 
1,000° C. When these materials are cooled for use at 
room temperature, their chemical and physical stabilities 
are excellent. A few organic materials have been used, 
as in scintillation counters, but their performances and 
stabilities are generally unfavorable. 

These solids must usually be in crystal form because 
particle motion, with minimum loss of energy, is 
easier through a crystal than through a non-crystal, for 
the same reason that it is easier to travel through an 
orchard than through a forest. 

Controlled purity is necessary, also, because foreign 
atoms in the path of a particle may deflect the particle, 
or dissipate some or all of its energy as heat. Foreign 
atoms may also liberate or trap electrons to give spurious 
electronic characteristics. Harmful impurities, there- 
fore, must be assiduously eliminated from ingredients, 
and excluded during reaction and crystallization. In 
some solids, as little as 0.00001 per cent of certain im- 
purities markedly affects their electronic characteristics. 
Purification is then required just as it is necessary to 
clear a calculating machine before use. 

There are beneficial impurities, as well as harmful 
ones. Foreign atoms, when controlled in kind and 
proportion, can be very useful in some host crystals. 
In luminescent solids, such perturbing atoms can pro- 
duce, for example, ( 1 ) activator centers wherein 



localized excitation and photon emission occur, ( 2 ) 
trapping centers that can detain electrons, for later 
release, in temporary storage of energy and informa- 
tion, and ( 3 ) sensitizer centers that can convert certain 
radiations into useful excitation energy that is trans- 
mitted to activator centers. In semiconductors, for ex- 
ample, foreign atoms can function as donors (con- 
venient sources) of electrons, or as acceptors (traps) 
that take electrons from their host-crystal neighbors. 
A host-crystal atom that is so deprived is the site of ii 
positive hole, because it lacks one electron charge. A 
positive hole can move by borrowing an electron from 
another host-crystal atom, which then becomes the 
site of the new positive hole, and the positive hole 
may continue to move by repeating the borrowing 
process along a line of atoms. 

An intimate subatomic description has been used 
here, because it emphasizes the fundamental nature of 
research on electronically active solids. The unit proc- 
esses are quantum phenomena of common interest 
to the various scientists involved. Some of the major 
sciences represented in this teamwork are: chemistry, 
crystallography, physics, ceramics, metallurgy, physical 
optics, and electronics. Major subdivisions of these 
sciences are also well represented. Important branches 
of chemistry, for example, are: synthetic inorganic 
chemistry, crystal chemistry, physical chemistry, kinetics, 
and analytical chemistry. 

Sciences Benefit by Cooperation 

There is mutual benefit in the cooperation of the 
different sciences. Chemical, optical, and electronic be- 
havior, for example, depend strongly on the environ- 
ments of the outlying loosely bound electrons of atoms 
in a solid. A scientist in one of these fields is, accord- 
ingly, encouraged to become more familiar with the 
others and thereby increase his knowledge and capability. 

Research on electronically active solids is now 
mostly divergent. Creative efi^ort is devoted to synthe- 
sizing new solids, as well as to analyzing the constitu- 
tion and behaviors of old ones. This is characteristic 
of a young and vigorous enterprise. 

Within the past few decades, some of the solids 
have become sizable production items. The production, 
which is usually done by electronics companies them- 
selves, exceeds 2,000 tons a year of ferromagnetic 
spinels ( ferrospinels ) , and 1,000 tons a year of lumi- 
nescent solids (phosphors). It is reasonable to expect 
that chemical activities of electronics organizations will 
expand. Their unique research efforts should continue 
to provide new products for their own industry, and 
useful by-products (such as hyper-pure substances) for 
other industries as well. 



20 RAD/O AGE 



Going 
Abroad? 




This article was prepared by the 
RCA International Division for 
the guidance of staff members 
assigned to foreign posts. Al- 
though directed specifically to Di- 
vision employees, the sage advice 
applies equally well to any Amer- 
ican living or traveling abroad. 



Yo 



-OU are going abroad — perhaps for a few weeks, 
maybe for years. You are going not as a representative 
of business in general, but of our company, RCA, and 
of our country, the U.S.A. 

How shall you behave? And how shall we advise you 
to behave? Shall we assume that you are perfect? If we 
were all people of culture and tolerance, there would 
be no courts of law, no crime, no wars, no mistakes. 

Shall we assume you are human, like all the rest of 
us, subject to heat and cold, errors of commission and 
omission? 

You are going abroad not primarily as an ambassador, 
a liaison worker, a goodwill agent — although you will 
be all of these. You are going as a business man. There 
is nothing wrong with business. In fact, that is why 
we are all in business — in the U.S.A. and in all the 
countries you will visit. Many of the people you will 
visit have a business ancestry going back thousands 
of years. If you have any reservations about business, 
its dignity and necessity, its services and its rewards — 
you had better drop the whole idea of your trip right 
now. 

Business Is A Wonderful Thing 

Let's get it straight: There is a lot of talk from 
the Communists about what they like to call the capi- 
talist system. The Communists don't like to call it by 
its right name: The private enterprise incentive system, 
with opportunity for everyone. More than anything else, 
it is an opportunity for groivth, the development of 
your talent. The Communist talk is double talk. Busi- 
ness is a wonderful institution. Everjrwhere you go, 
people will respect you if you feel that way about it. 
You don't have to shout business day and night to 
believe in it. The important thing is your training for 
it; how you feel about it. 

For RCA, we want you to feel proud. You already 
do. Feel prouder when you go abroad. 



Our reputation abroad is excellent. It has been won 
by character: That of our products; our conduct; our 
dealings with our customers and our friends. Ours is 
not the legend of leadership, but the actuality. We have 
a reputation all over the world for leadership. It is the 
fruit of wise management. It signifies quality. RCA is 
dedicated to the principle: Service with integrity. We 
have built upon firm foundations — our research and 
manufacturing experience in the U.S.A. We have chosen 
distributors of immense prestige and great stability. 
They enjoy the highest respect of their communities. 
The same is true of our own RCA associate companies. 

We have organized manufacturing, distribution and 
service overseas with one thing in mind: Our good 
name. That sums up our service, whether it is to the 
home with a radio or TV receiver; records or Victrola* 
phonograph; or to the television station with a complete 
system; or to the government with the vision to plan 
ahead with microwave communications systems, or to 
take I6mm projectors into its villages ro teach its 
people how to grow more from the land. 

Our radio or TV set, the Victrola* phonograph, the 
record, the TV station, the microwave communications 
system, the I6mm projector has not been made or 
shipped or sold on a price basis only. It is fairly priced. 
It may cost a little more originally than its competitors. 
In the long run, we believe, it will cost much less. It 
incorporates engineering and research on which you 
could not put a price. It is extremely well made. It 
is one of the best values in the field. It will perform 
under the toughest of conditions. It will give years of 
perfect service. It will make its owner proud — of RCA. 

So what shall you take with you when you go abroad 
for RCA? 

You will have been advised about exchange, clothes, 
food, hotels, housing, education for children and the 
many other aspects of working outside of the U.S.A. 

We are concerned here with your attitude: what 

•Victrola is a registered trade mark of the Radio Corporation of America 



RADIO AGE 27 




Pack understanding qualities. They're good everywhere. 

you take in your mind and heart. If you could pack only 
two things, take with you tolerance and friendliness. 
Leave behind all intolerance and suspicion. 

You have read of mistakes made by our fellow 
countrymen. We are never judged by the best of us, 
but by the icorst of us. Let's see what Mark Twain 
wrote in "Innocents Abroad" in 1875. 

"We were troubled a little at dinner today by the 
conduct of an American, who talked very loudly and 
coarsely, and laughed boisterously where all others were 
so quiet and well behaved. He ordered wine with a 
royal flourish, and said: 'I never dine without wine, 
sir' (which was a pitiful falsehood), and looked around 
upon the company to bask in the admiration he expected 
to find in their faces. All these airs in a land where they 
would as soon expect to leave the soup out of the bill 
of fare as the wine! — in a land where wine is nearly as 
common among all ranks as water! This fellow said: 
'I am a free-born sovereign, sir, an American, sir, and 
I want everybody to know it!' He did not mention that 
he was a lineal descendant of Balaam's ass; but every- 
body knew that without his telling it." 

We Learn From Canucks 

But we are not alone. Here is an excerpt from an 
editorial from MacLean's, the widely read Canadian 
magazine. The editorial by Lionel Shapiro is called: 
"When the Canucks Hit Europe Again." 

. . . "Every French person of my acquaintance, with- 
out exception, has his or her 'American story' to relate 
. . . mostly of an inexplicably arrogant attitude — and it 
is related with all the more bitterness because Parisians 
have lived with the problem since 1944. 

"At the moment this is an American problem 
because American troops are the only ones to be seen 
in Paris in any numbers. But it will soon become a 
Canadian problem, too. Before the end of the year 
Canada will have almost fifteen thousand uniformed men 



in Europe and there is no reason to believe they will 
prove any more immune than their American comrades 
to the traditional behavior forms of the soldier away 
from home. 

"In 1944 and 1945 the Canadians were equally un- 
popular in Brussels and, after the fighting, in Amster- 
dam. Many of them were rowdy, thoughtless, overbear- 
ing and in some cases, criminally cruel. Many of them 
behaved as they would never dare or dream of behaving 
at home. 

"At that period there was some excuse for battle- 
weary men. Today there are no such excuses. And 
today the consequences of bad feelings between the 
North American serviceman and the European civilian 
can be far greater than they were in 1945. The solidarity 
of the Western world, which is essential to its survival, 
cannot be guaranteed by treaties alone. Its real guarantee 
— and that guarantee does not as yet exist — is the 
understanding of continent for continent, the tolerance 
of nation for nation, the respect of man for man. 

"In combating rowdyism the first task for the Cana- 
dians, u'hile they are training in Canada, is to weed 
out the potential trouble-makers and to leave them at 
home. This is not an insuperable requirement. Within 
a few weeks of the beginning of training every company 
commander knows the two or three chronic trouble- 
makers in his outfit. 

"The problem of arrogance is not so easily tackled. 
In the soldier it usually stems from ignorance of the 
country where he is stationed and from a mistaken con- 
ception of the mission in which he is engaged. On both 
points, trouble can be avoided if the soldier is properly 
indoctrinated before he is dispatched overseas. 

W^elcome Guest — Not Necessary Evil 

"It is the rare and exceptional soldier who is aware 
of the truth: That the defense of his country depends 
on the defense of Western Europe, that if anyone is 




"It can't turn her head to have several servants." 



22 RADIO AGE 



being imposed upon in this common effort it is the 
Western European who finds himself sitting in the first 
line of the defense of North America. 

"This point of indoctrination must be hammered 
home to the young Canadian destined for European duty. 
If he understands this thoroughly it will make the dif- 
ference in his attitude between arrogance and an easy 
tolerance. It will make him a welcome guest in Western 
Europe and not a necessary evil. He will have a better 
time on his tour of duty; he will learn more; and he 
will return a better citizen, a more enlightened man." 

That's straightforward talk. Any soldier in any uni- 
form can profit by it. So can the man in mufti. 




"Keep doors open. Be wanted back." 

Times have changed; and they keep changing. Social 
and political upheavals of vast significance have changed 
whole countries. But good manners never change. 

Going abroad requires a truly international outlook, 
today more than ever. No matter what your personal 
convictions may be on religion or politics, or education, 
for example, you must cultivate an tmderstanding point 
of view, toward the situations you will encounter. By 
all means, lead your own spiritual life, according to your 
conscience. If any missionary work is to be done, let 
it come from good exafiiple. 

You will have studied the countries you are going 
to visit, their political history, their racial strains, their 
culture. Keep up these studies. There are social cus- 
toms in Asia or Africa that you may not find in Latin 
America or Europe. Some of these customs you adopt. 
Others you do not. This does not set you apart. It 
may indicate your respect for a local tradition. 

National customs vary but the basic pattern of our 




"Flag waving is a bore and a sin.' 



behavior does not. Here are navigating beacons for any 
traveler: 

Be polite: The first commandtnent. We, in the 
U.S.A., often have a casual attitude toward many of the 
gracious little ways of life. Abroad these ways are part 
of life; sometimes formalized; always important. Be 
courteous — and mean it. 

Be tolerant: Of religion, social and economic custom. 

Be informed: On history, politics, racial heritage, 
literature, cultural achievements. 

Be friendly: To all you contact. Don't be a Sir 
Walter Raleigh — and save your cloak only for queens. 
Be friendly to people, not position. 

Be business-like: That's wliat you are there for — 
business. 

Be thorough: Finish the job. 

Be a listner: Keep your ears and eyes open; you'll 
learn more. Don't talk too much. Samson killed a lot 
of Philistines with a jawbone of an ass. The jawbone 
of an ass is still a lethal weapon. Many friends, many 
business contracts have been killed by it. 

Be healthy: Have a hobby. 

Be sensible: Your wife is more important to your 
success than she thinks. The frustrations and worries 
of life abroad will weigh more on her than on you. She 
must be prepared for devotion of an extraordinary 
nature. The subject of family life, of social adjustments 
abroad, is a book in itself. Your wife did the house- 
work back in the States, as most American women do. 
In foreign countries, she may have a cook, a laundress, 
a maid; maybe a nurse; perhaps a chauffeur and a 
gardner. That's part of the set-up. She must succeed 
in not letting these luxuries ( to an American — common- 
place to the people of the country ) turn her head. 

And don't let anything turn yours, either. 



rad;o age 23 



Be patient: This country you're in was doing things 
that "old fashioned" way when Daniel Boone was shoot- 
ing his way West. And maybe it's not such an "old 
fashioned" way at that! 

Be international: Don't "gang up" with your 
American friends all the time. Make friends within 
the country, among its people. Don't clique up at the 
"American Colony." In some places the "Colony" is 
just that — too insulated. 

Be loyal: And give credit when and where it is due. 

Be circumspect: Remember a fountain pen can be 
filled with poison as well as ink. Don't write boomerang 
letters back to your company, home town, or college 
paper. 

Learn the language: Make the eflFort. 'We like to 
hear our foreign friends speak English. Their language 
will help you in hundreds of ways. Your wife should- 
learn it, too. It will help her to cope with many 
problems. 

■We have records that teach some languages. The 
best way to learn to speak a language is by sound. Have 
a friend come in for breakfast regularly — and have him 
speak to you in the language — and then translate it 
into English. Everyday phrases- — news of the day. In 
the office, have your secretary speak to you all morning 
in the language of the country. Make the effort. You'll 
make a big hit. 

Be hopeful: Things will get you down, harass your 
family. Have faith — and work with optimism and in- 
telligence. 

Be a good American: This is a constant navigating 
beacon! Be a good American. North American, that is. 
You are, in a sense, representing the U.S.A. as well as 
RCA. To have a little humility is better than to "invent" 
everything — like the Russians. 

Be polite: That's the last commandment as well as 
the first. Remember all the kind things your family 
taught you — and do them. The Spanish have this say- 
ing: "No quita lo cortes a lo valiente." Courtesy in no 
way detracts from valor. If you are ever in doubt as 
to what to do — do the kind thing. 

Using these navigating beacons you can be, not a 
robot, but thoroughly an individual, developing your 
own personality, living a life of satisfaction. This is a 
pattern of growth. 

'Whether you are to remain in a country for a few 
weeks or a few years, remember that when you leave, 
the RCA distributor or the RCA company will benefit 
from the reputation you have made or will bear the 
burden of your conduct. You go, but your imprint — 
your reputation — will stay. 



The goodwill that surrounds the name of RCA will 
manifest itself to you wherever you go. Put an RCA 
monogram in your buttonhole — and be careful. Your 
pride may do things to you. 

Airline pilots and hostesses will tell you about RCA 
transmitters or portable radios they operate; a stranger 
will introduce himself to you as a theatre man — it will 
develop he has a big chain of cines in his country — RCA 
equipped. You will meet wonderful people in many 
professions and walks of life who know our recorded 
music, our radio or TV sets, our broadcasting equip- 
ment, our sound film recorders or reproducers, our 
electron microscopes, TV transmitters, our diversity 
receivers, our microwave and VHP radio relay systems 
— spanning their country, speeding their communica- 
tions. 

These are our customers — high on the list of our 
most valuable resources. Theirs will be a pride of owner- 
ship, a sense of belonging to a family with dignity and 
meaning. 

Our company has the great good fortune to serve 
the individual, the industry, the government. We cross 
the lives of people and the lifelines of nations. Our 
products are instruments of culture and attainment; of 
social and economic distinction. As new nations emerge 
and old nations face new problems, we are helping them 
on all fronts — economic, cultural, ideological — with our 
products and services. 

We have a fine name, certainly. And people every- 
where expect the finest of us — of our products and our 
men. Doors will open to you because you represent 
RCA. Remember that when great courtesies are bestowed 
on you, as they will be. You represent a symbol of suc- 
cess. You can make it greater. 

We cannot sit back and let our name alone carry 
us. We must go to all nations, study their needs, learn 
how to utilize their many great talents, find the best 
way to be of service. 

The better you represent RCA, the more honor you 
bestow on it and on yourself. 




24 RADIO AGE 




^=5cu^ 



Rear view and mirrored front view of RCA Personal 
radio receiver showing newly developed long-life "A" 
and "B" batteries in position. In foreground is a "B" 
battery with case opened to show stacks of alkaline cells. 



cient utilization of the cell's active materials. Accord- 
ingly, it is possible to reduce the size of both cell and 
battery. 

The "crown type " cell employed in the new battery 
is a compact, self-contained unit which delivers more 
useful energy per unit of volume than do conventional 
types of cells. The cell resembles two shallow soda 
bottle caps placed near together, and measures only 
0.9 inch in diameter and 0.23 inch high. 

Sandwiched between the two "bottle caps," within 
a protective plastic ring, are the positive electrode can, 
the positive and negative electrodes, and the electrolyte 
pad. One cap serves as the positive terminal; the other, 
the negative. 

To take full advantage of the new alkaline battery's 
longer playing life, the conventional lV2-volt "A" bat- 
tery was redesigned to make possible balanced-life 
operation with the new "B" battery in a "personal" 
portable. RCA's new "A" battery is approximately 
twice the length of the popular "sealed-in-steel " type, 
but has a life capacity nearly four times greater. In a 
i Continued on page 50) 



Long-Life Batteries 

Give Greater Playing Capacity 

to Personal Radio Sets 

jLt_Lore than a million dollars and three years of 
engineering research preceded the development of the 
revolutionary new alkaline "B" radio battery now being 
marketed by the Tube Department of RCA Victor 
Division. The new battery is nearly 25 per cent smaller 
than present comparable types, yet offers double "per- 
sonal radio ' playing capacity for the modern radio set 
designed around it. 

The 671/^ -volt "B" battery, specifically designed for 
use in personal portable radios, is the first radio dry 
battery to utilize the alkaline-cell principle which here- 
tofore had been applied successfully only to wet-type, 
non-portable batteries. 

The alkaline principle makes possible a more effi- 



POSITIVE CAP 



POSITIVE- t J. 

ELECTRODE CAN P 1 







POSITIVE 
ELECTRODE 



ELECTROLYTE PAD i^ J 

NEGATIVE :"" "' ^ 

ELECTRODE V_ ^J 



PLASTIC RING 



NEGATIVE CAP 





Sketches showing elements of RCA's long-life alkaline 

cells which provide double playing capacity for radio 

receivers designed around them. 



RAD/O AGE 25 




Robert E. Sherwood 



Thomas W. Phipps 



NBC Signs Two Noted Playwrights 
To Lift Quality of TV Programs 

Robert E. Sherwood, Pulitzer Prize Winner, and Thomas W. Phipps, Film and Magazine 
Writer, Commissioned to Create One-Hour Dramas for Network. 



By Charles C. Barry 

Vice President in Charge of Programs 
National Broadcasting Co., Inc. 



As 



lS radio did a quarter century or more ago and the 
movies before that, television looked to its sister forms 
of entertainment to provide it with talent to fill its pro- 
gram schedules. 

The stars of radio, movies and stage became the 
stars of television. Bob Hope came over from movies 
and radio; Dennis Day brought his talents, developed 
by radio, to the new medium; Jimmy Durante trans- 
formed his energetic sketches of radio, stage and night 
clubs to the requirements of television. 

At the same time, television brought in the relatively 
new and untried artists and developed them as stars. 
Thus came Sid Caesar, Burr Tillstrom, Wally Cox and 
a host of others who found their artistic stature in the 
new medium. This process continues constantly; artists 
playing bit parts today are tomorrow's stars. 

We have found that this same twofold growth would 
be applicable in other creative aspects of programming 
for television. Contracts negotiated recently by the Na- 
tional Broadcasting Company with Robert E. Sherwood, 



Pulitzer Prize winner, and Thomas W. Phipps, drama- 
tist, demonstrating how this is so in the vastly important 
but often underestimated field of writing. 

NBC contracted with Mr. Sherwood for him to write 
nine original one-hour plays over a five-year period. The 
distinguished playwright and author, winner of three 
Pulitzer prizes for drama and one for biography was 
accorded complete freedom and independence in the 
selection of his subject matter and treatment of his story. 

In announcing the successful negotiations for Mr. 
Sherwood's services on the air, NBC's president ex- 
pressed his pride in welcoming to the network's creative 
staff one of America's most successful and honored 
writers. "It is a significant milestone in the progress of 
television," he said, "when a man of Mr. Sherwood's 
stature in the theatre and in contemporary writing 
brings his talents to us. This is another of NBC's steps 
for continually elevating the quality of American radio 
and television. It is my hope this will have a construc- 
tive influence in attracting other prominent authors to 
these fields." 

It is our concept at NBC to intrigue as many of 
the great minds of other mediums of entertainment as 
(Continued on page 301 



26 RADIO AGE 



Maedel Elected Head of 
RCA Institutes 



Election of George F. Maedel as President of RCA 
Institutes, Inc., was announced on March 2 by Brig. 
General David SarnofI, Chairman of the Board of Radio 
Corporation of America. Mr. Maedel, Vice President 
and General Superintendent of RCA's technical school 
since 1948, succeeds Major General George L. Van 
Deusen, (USA, Ret.), who retired on March 1. General 
Van Deusen, Commandant of the Eastern Signal Corps 
Training Center during World War II, served as head 
of the Institutes since October, 1947. 

Mr. Maedel joined RCA Institutes in 19.^.^ as the 
first instructor of the Mathematics Department. He was 
transferred to the Radio Frequency Department in 1936 
and four years later was appointed Chief Instructor. In 
1944, Mr. Maedel became Assistant Superintendent and 
in 1947 was appointed the Superintendent of the 
Institutes. During the following year, he was elected 
Vice President and General Superintendent. 

A native of Brooklyn, N. Y., Mr. Maedel attended 
Columbia University where he received an A.B. degree 
in 1924 and an E.E. degree in 1926. He is a licensed 
professional engineer in New York State and is the 




George F. Maede 



author of two text books on mathematics which are in 
use at RCA Institutes. 

Since 1950 Mr. Maedel has served two terms as 
President of the New York State Association of Private 
Vocational Schools. He was Vice President of the Asso- 
ciation from 1945, when it was formed, until his elec- 
tion as President. Prior to joining RCA Institutes, he 
was associated with the New York Telephone Company 
as a Traffic Engineer and served as an instructor in 
mathematics at the evening classes of Pratt Institute in 
Brooklyn. 



New Blasr-Proof Microphone 

A new highly sensitive and directive microphone 
that is smaller and less obtrusive than existing designs 
and for that reason well suited to the needs of tele- 
vision, radio and film studios was described before 
the recent I. R. E. Convention, in a paper prepared by 
Dr. Harry F. Olson, John Preston and John C. Bleazey 
of the David Sarnoff Research Center of Princeton, N. J. 

The new device is called a uniaxial microphone 
because it is most sensitive to sounds arriving along 
the axis of the instrument, the RCA engineers ex- 
plained. 

In addition to its improved directional character- 
istics, this microphone, the engineers stated, incor- 
porates a blast-proof vibrating system capable of with- 
standing sound shocks from guns, pistols and small 
explosions. 




Architect's drawing of new facade to be constructed 
on the Bloomington, III., plant of RCA Victor Division. 
Production lines will occupy the first floor; offices obove. 



RAD\0 AGE 27 




T 



This bathing suit saleslady was far less efFective than her conservatively clad sister, 
selling the same product. 

What is YOUR Taste in TV 
Commercials? 

NBC Launches Project to Study Effectiveness of Program 
Advertising for Benefit of Sponsors 



-O the average American who watches television, 
the commercials are accepted as part of the program. 
Those which depict bright little cartoon characters per- 
forming household tasks with ease and abandon evoke 
chuckles of appreciation. The more prosaic types cap- 
ture attention in direct ratio to their informative nature. 

It is these very commercials which have provided 
the financial backing that has put American TV so far 
in the forefront of video throughout the world. These 
sales messages from the advertisers sponsoring TV 
programs have been proved to be among the most potent 
methods of selling products to the American public. 

As such they occupy the time and attention of vast 
numbers of highly skilled people in the advertising field. 
A sizable industry is devoted to the production of com- 
mercials alone. There are literally hundreds of people 
of diverse talents engaged in making the finished prod- 
ucts that appear on the home TV screen for anywhere 
from 10 seconds to a full minute. And each of these 
people is vitally concerned in making sure that the 
commercial which the public sees will sell the product. 

These commercials, professionally done, and inserted 
into a popular TV show, should ensure the advertiser a 
large sales return. Yet it has become apparent in the 



past several years that such is not always the case. 
John K. Herbert, vice president in Charge of Networks 
for the National Broadcasting Company, recently stated: 

"Our research into sales effectiveness shows wide 
difference in what television advertisers are getting for 
their money. We found, for example, that two adver- 
tisers were reaching the same number of people at 
about the same cost. Yet one advertiser was getting 
eight times as many extra customers as his competitor. 

"We at NBC have been concentrating on building 
great shows. Obviously, that's the most important job 
we can do for advertisers. However, it appears that, in 
many cases, improving the commercial may actually 
produce tremendous sales returns." 

Testing Service Inaugurated 

With this in mind, NBC authorized a research 
project by the Schwerin Research Corporation to deter- 
mine "How to Increase the EtTectiveness of Television 
Commercials." The results of that survey have been 
made public, and on the strength of those findings, 
NBC has announced an unprecedented commercial test- 
ing service for all its advertisers. 

Mr. Herbert in announcing the results of the study 



28 RADIO AGE 




when 10 scenes followed one another rapidly during a commercial, the efFect on the viewer was only one 
third that of the simplified presentation at the right. 



and the plans for the testing service, explained: 

"NBC's publication of the report and its new service 
are both designed to help advertisers win even greater 
returns from their television campaigns. These unique 
contributions underline our belief that the network has 
a continuing responsibility to the users of the medium." 

The new NBC Commercial Testing Service is avail- 
able to all network advertisers on a non-profit, cost basis. 
NBC is making its studios available at specified times 
for the rehearsal and shooting of rough commercials. 
These films, unlike the product seen on the air, need not 
meet finished production standards. Simple sets, a mini- 
mum of props and performers, and limited camera work 
can serve the purpose. The primary objective is merely 
to determine the relative superiority of various tech- 
niques, so that the commercial which will eventually 
appear on the air will stand a greater chance of selling 
more goods. 

After these rough commercials are made, they are 
shown to test audiences by the Schwerin Corporation, 
to determine how well the sales points get across to the 
public. This audience reaction method is the same as 
that used in conducting the initial survey mentioned 
above. 

The conclusions of that study, "How to Increase the 



Effectiveness of Television Commercials," were based 
on audience reactions to approximately 2,000 different 
TV commercials for several hundred different nationally- 
advertised products. The purpose was to discover what 
sales points in each commercial were best remembered 
and why they were remembered. Immediately after 
seeing programs in which the commercials had been 
inserted, viewers were asked to write down the brand 
name of the product advertised and everything about it 
they remembered having seen or heard in the commer- 
cial. At a later point, they were asked whether they 
believed certain key claims made in the commercial. 

The information thus gained was analyzed and 
refined into five basic principles — signposts to more 
effective TV commercials. Stated simply, they are: 



Correlate the spoken claim with the visual action 

Demonstrate the product 

Keep the commercial simple 

Use the proper "presenter" for the product 

Keep the setting authentic 

The importance of Point One was emphasized in 
comparing audience reaction to two similar commer- 
cials. In commercial "A" the announcer stood beside 
(Continued on page 32) 




SUMMARY 



BOTH IN AUDIO & VIDEO 
AT SAME TIME 

Responses per 100 viewers 



^udio only 



}oth 

audio and video 



41 



Correlate audio and video 
^^ Demonstrate 
mm Keep it simple 
^^ Use right presenter 
^^ Use right setting 



NBC Signs Two Playwrights for TV Programs 



I Continued from page 26) 
possible. We know that a playwright such as Mr. Sher- 
wood who has given so much to the theatre and to the 
motion pictures can do the same for television. The 
audience he can reach by this electronic means is so 
much more vast than any visual system heretofore avail- 
able to him. It would be a great loss to that audience 
if a man of his calibre did not lend his talents to their 
enjoyment and intellectual stimulation. When a man 
like Mr. Sherwood joins us, we know we have reached 
an artistic maturity which deserves the talents of the 
best that can be borrowed from the other, older show- 
business mediums. 

It would be shortsighted, however, if we relied alone 
on our ability to lure the proven talent of other mediums 
to television. For a time this might suffice, but in the 
end artistic atrophy would set in and we would find our- 
selves flapping helplessly on the muddy bottom of a 
drying pool. We must grow from within, and grow 
quickly and vigorously, for the other entertainment forms 
are dwarfed by the vastness and the hunger for creative 
ideas that characterize television. 

Essentially a Product of Television 

An indication of our recognition of this vital truth 
as it relates to writers is contained in the arrangements 
worked out with Mr. Phipps. Although he previously 
had established a considerable reputation with his work 
for leading magazines and for motion pictures, he is 
essentially a product of television. He came to it with 
his plays several years ago when television's audience was 
small by comparison and the rewards of writers were 
on a like scale. Soon his original one-hour dramas were 
being seen regularly on the "Robert Montgomery Pre- 
sents" and "Television Playhouse" programs and he came 
to be identified as one of television's most prolific and 
successful authors. We recognized that stature and asked 
Mr. Phipps to sign a contract calling for him to write 
twelve original hour-long dramas for network use within 
the space of a year. His plays will continue to be seen 
on the programs which already have shown his work, 
but now they will have the added significance of being 
evidence of our intention to give ever greater recogni- 
tion to writers in television. 

It is perhaps unfortunate that writers cannot be 
developed like television tubes. In the scientific end of 
our business, the inventors and technicians can work in 
their laboratories until they are sure they have the fully 
matured mechanisms for transmitting the action and the 
words of the television stage. Their frustrations are 



known only to themselves until they are at last ready 
with a new, perfected wonder of science. 

Not so with writers. Their work must be exposed to 
public view and then the verdict is rendered for them 
by the viewers. A producer can think he has something 
good, a cast can learn the lines and the movements of 
the play and deliver them with great spirit, but they can 
never be sure, never take for granted the public's ac- 
ceptance and approval of what they are offering. A 
writer must do his work in the crucible of public gaze. 

We are happy, then, to be able to underwrite the 
efforts of a writer such as Mr. Phipps — and to look for 
others who have grown up with the medium — in order 
to assure our own future. For this is the age of tele- 
vision, and in the final analysis television must have its 
own artistic and scientific technicians, discovered within 
the medium, given the chance to develop their skills, 
and encouraged to make this new art form something 
of which we can be proud. 

Long-Life Batteries 

i Continued from piige 25) 
"personal" receiver, two of these batteries will balance 
the life of the new alkaline "B" battery. 

RCA 'Victor engineers have improved the design of 
personal portable radios, so that models such as the 
2B400, employing the balanced-life combination of one 
alkaline "B" and two redesigned "A" batteries, will play 
up to ten times longer without battery change than was 
heretofore possible with small portable receivers. 

The physical shape of the "crown type" cell makes 
for simplicity and compactness in constructing the 
multiple-cell stacks around which batteries are built. 
The stacks are held in place in a paper tube. The metal 
outside shell is crimped over a hard fiber insulator 
which, in turn, puts pressure on the cell stacks. A small 
jumper strip makes the connection between the stacks. 

The number of cell stacks that go into a battery 
depend upon its electrical requirements. In the RCA 
alkaline "B" battery, two stacks of these exclusive 
"crown type" cells are combined to provide the correct 
voltage output. 

After manufacture of the individual cells, each cell 
is placed in storage for a short time to allow it to be- 
come stabilized and to expose any potentially weak cells. 
After storage, each cell is tested, and acceptable ones 
are assembled into batteries which, in turn, are tested 
and aged for several days. Following this aging period, 
the completed batteries are again tested. 



30 RADIO AGE 



Electronics^ Next Era 



{Continued from page 13) 
partment of the Army to provide complete stock control 
at one of their large bases. Large insurance companies 
and utilities are making analyses of the cost savings 
which may be obtained by electronizing some of their 
clerical operations. 

We can expect, however, that the greatest change 
in our way of life will result from the tool which the 
electronic computer gives us to extend our mental 
power. 

I will illustrate this first with a rather simple, 
straight-forward example. 

Computer for Weather Prediction 

At the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, 
N. J., a computer using several thousand vacuum tubes 
has been built for the express purpose of giving us 
improved weather prediction. The physical laws under- 
lying the flow of weather are, we think, reasonably well 
known. The problem of assembling the data required 
to accurately compute the weather in advance and mak- 
ing the computations is, however, so stupendous that, 
using ordinary computer methods, the weather would 
be long past before the calculations could be made. In 
addition, we must be able to check the laws we assume 
hold against the actual performance in order to increase 
the accuracy of our predictions. This requires many 
trial computations, each one of which would be terrific- 
ally involved. 

The electronic weather computer solves both prob- 
lems for us. ( 1 ) It enables us to make the difficult 
calculations we could not make otherwise, and (2) it 
permits us to make sufficient checks of performance 
against hypothesis to enable us to develop the hy- 
pothesis which gives the correct results. 

As a concluding item, I will try to illustrate more 
completely what I mean by using another example. 

Let us suppose that we want a machine to predict 
continuously the future price of some farm commodity. 
Such a machine might be useful to some government 
agency whose function it would be to stabilize the price 
of the commodity. We can assume that the price at some 
future date is completely predictable with sufficient 
knowledge of the factors which determine price and the 
laws governing the interactions between them. Among 
other variables which must be introduced are certainly 
the supply of the commodity, factors which determine 
future supply, such as weather, planting, labor market, 
etc., the present and projected demand, including govern- 
ment operations, and other more subtle factors which 



determine price, such as the economic condition and 
mass psychology of buyers and sellers and the reaction 
of price changes on them, and last but not least, the 
eventual effect of the existence of the machine, which is 
doing the price predicting, on the price of the com- 
modity. I assume that the laws governing the inter- 
actions of the factors which are introduced will not be 
too well known when the machine is put in operation 
and that some rather wild guesses as to their character- 
istics will at first have to be made. 

However, with any given input the computation will 
be made in a matter of seconds so that an enormous 
number of hypotheses can be introduced in a reasonable 
time, and the several predictions can be compared with 
the actual price to determine with fair rapidity which 
hypothesis gives the most accurate result. The electronic 
computer thus makes possible the same interplay be- 
tween theory and experiment which has been so success- 
ful in determining the laws of natural science. In due 
course we would expect to develop a number of general 
mathematical laws which could be built on as the method 
is extended to more complicated problems in economics. 
You will note that the example I have chosen is a par- 
ticularly simple one in that the correct experimental 
result is expressed by a single number — namely, the 
actual price at a particular time. 

Proble»is are Similar 

The analogy between the economic problem which 
has just been discussed and the weather-prediction prob- 
lem is strikingly close. In both cases we must assemble 
at considerable expense and effort large amounts of data 
to put into the computation. In both cases the relations 
between the various data which have been gathered are 
complicated, and involved mathematical calculations are 
required in order to solve the problem. In both cases, 
given sufficiently accurate primary data and knowing the 
laws which govern the phenomena, the desired result is 
certainly predictable and it is easy to compare the pre- 
dicted result against the actual happening. The two 
problems differ in that the physical laws underlying the 
phenomena in the weather-prediction problem are rea- 
sonably well known while the laws underlying human 
behavior are still to be ascertained. 

If an electronic computer using vacuum tubes can 
solve the weather-prediction problem, it is not unreason- 
able to hope that the vastly more erudite machine using 
the new products of our solid-state research will be able 
to solve the more complicated problems of the social 
sciences. 



RADIO AGE 31 



What is YOUR Taste in 
TV Commercials? 

I Continued from page 29) 
the product, a household appUance, and spoke of a 
special feature. Only five out of every 100 viewers 
remembered that feature. In commercial "B" the same 
announcer, standing beside the same product, told the 
same story and pointed to the special feature as he spoke 
of it. Out-of every 100 viewers, 41 of them recalled the 
feature in this commercial, proof of the impact of having 
picture and sound tell the same story simultaneously. 

The efficacy of product demonstration was proven 
in reactions to commercials wherein a kitchen cleanser 
was actually shown in use; in another where a model 
washed her hair with a shampoo which produced more 
suds than that used by another model, and in still a third 
where a side of meat was shown being trimmed away 
to get down to the choicest portion, which went into a 
package. In all cases, these demonstrations evoked 
greater remembrance among viewers than commercials 
which did not demonstrate. 

Simplicity as a virtue in commercials was illustrated 
in a comparison of two cigarette commercials. The first 
had all the elements of a major production. Within a 
period of 60 seconds, it introduced no less than 10 
scenes. First an announcer praised the product, then 
the product was shown, next an athlete gave a testi- 
monial, a second announcer appeared, the product was 
shown in use, another testimonial was given, etc. This 
expensive commercial drew only 13 responses from 100 
viewers. Simplification to three basic elements — a pic- 
ture of the product with an unseen announcer's voice, 
a testimonial by a housewife, and a final closeup of the 
product — won remembrance from 32 out of 100 viewers. 

The use of a proper "presenter" was shown when a 
pretty girl made the same product speech, fully clothed, 
in one version and wearing a pin-up type of costume 
in another. The revelation of her physical charms 
proved such a distracting element in the latter that only 
2 out of 100 viewers remembered the product. In 
more conservative attire, she won the attention of 13 
our of 100 viewers for the product. 

The examples cited here are but a few of the thou- 
sands which bore out these five basic tenets of construct- 
ing an effective television commercial, one that will sell 
goods. The entire survey, and the new NBC Commer- 
cial Testing Service which it fostered are further evi- 
dence of the painstaking effort devoted by the network 
toward giving its customers, the advertisers, fullest value 
for the money invested in NBC programs. 



Sarnoff Honored by I.R.E. 

(Continued from page 5) 
century will make those of our generation pale into 
insignificance. Our great hope for continued advance 
stems from the fact that the sum total of our knowledge 
of science and nature is but a drop in the ocean of 
knowledge that spreads to the far distant shores of the 
future. 

"All of you, as engineers, have a right to take special 
pride in the fact that America, supremely the land of 
Liberty, is also supremely the land of science. This is 
no accident, my friends, but a matter of cause and 
effect. Freedom is the oxygen without which science 
cannot breathe. At their best, at their most creative, 
science and engineering are attributes of liberty — noble 
expressions of man's God-given right to investigate and 
explore the universe without fear of social or political 
or religious reprisals. 

'"Without freedom there can be no genuine research, 
which is the uninhibited pursuit of truth no matter 
where it may lead. In the final analysis science is a 
search for the truth about the natural laws governing 
the universe. The task of engineering is to translate 
those findings into products and services to enrich 
man's life. The role of radio engineers in this dynamic 
enterprise has been great. It is destined to be even 
greater." 

Teleprompter Aids Orator 

(Continued from page 17) 
four units to keep the individual within reading range 
of his script. All machines are electronically synchron- 
ized so that each brings into view the same portion 
of the script at the same time. 

The RCA Service Company also has available a 
Teleprompter concealed within a speaker's rostrum. This 
unit includes warning lights which flash when the 
speaker is ten, five, three minutes and one minute from 
the end of his address. Two clocks mounted on the 
rostrum indicate the time of day and the minutes of 
speaking time which have elapsed. With these aids, a 
speaker is able accurately to judge the speed of his 
delivery. 

The RCA Service Plan for public speakers is highly 
flexible and can be tailor-made for different require- 
ments. The Teleprompter permits a person to relax 
and to devote all his attention toward getting the sub- 
ject across to an audience. It eliminates the tedious 
chore of memorizing speeches, avoids omitting im- 
portant points and reduces rehearsal time to a minimum. 
The Teleprompter can make anyone a better speaker. 



32 RADIO AGE 




Developed by RCA Victor, the new •'45 Extended Play" record gives 
lovers more music for less money plus a perfect medium for playing shorter 
classical works and multiple popular selections. 






iwice as much music 

on the same size record 




Compact RCA Victor "45" playe 



-first syste 



rd and 



player were designed for one an- 
otlier. With RCA Victor "45 EPs." 
it plays up to 16 minutes per record, 
and the "hreaks" come only where 
the composer planned them. 



Another RCA achievement 
in electronics: 

\ challenging question was 
asked RCA engineers and 
scientists in 1951. How can 
we increase the playing time 
of a 7-inch "45" record, 
icithout using a larger disc? 
Si.xteen months of research 
gave the answer, "45 EP"— 
Extended Plav. Public re- 
sponse confirmed this as the 
most important achievement 
in the new recording speeds. 
More than 2 million RCA 
Victor "45 EP" records were 
bought in the first four 
months of their existence! 




Radio Corporation of America 

florid leader in radio— first in tele\ision 



Research leadership — your 
guide to better value: the 

ability of RCA Victor to 
solve the problem of more 
music on a "45 Extended 
Play" record accents the im- 
portance of research to you. 
Whether you plan to buy 
television, radio or any other 
electronic instrument, re- 
search leadership adds more 
value to all products and 
services trademarked RCA 
or RCA Victor. 




ry 



r ansistor , 

mighty mite of electronics 



Increasingly you hear of a new elec- 
tronic device — the transistor. Be- 
cause of growing interest, RCA— a 
pioneer in transistor development 
for practical use in electronics — an- 
swers some basic questions: 
Q: What is a transistor? 
A: The transistor consists of a particle 
of the metal germanium imbedded in 
a plastic shell about the size of a kernel 
of corn. It controls electrons in solids in 
much the same way that the electron 
tube handles electrons in a vacuum. 
But transistors are not interchangeable 
with tubes in the sense that a tube can 
be removed from a radio or television 
set and a transistor substituted. New 
circuits as \\'ell as new components are 
needed. 

Q: What is germanium? 
A: Germanium is a metal midway be- 
tween gold and platinum in cost, but 
a penny or two will buy the amount 
needed for one transistor. Germanium 
is one of the basic elements found in 
coal and certain ores. When painstak- 
ingly prepared, it has unusual electrical 
characteristics which enable a trans- 



istor to detect, amplify and oscillate as 
does an electron tube. 
Q: What are the advantages of tran- 
sistors in electronic instruments? 
A: They have no heated filament, rc- 
(juire no warm-up, and use little power. 
They are rugged, shock-resistant and 
unaffected by dampness. They have 
long life. These qualities offer great 
opportunities for the miniaturization, 
simplification, and refinement of many 
tvpes of electronic equipment. 
Q: What is the present status of tran- 
sistors? 
A: There are a number of types, most 
still in development. RCA has demon- 
strated to 200 electronics firms — plus 
Armed Forces representatives — how 
transistors could be used in many dif- 
ferent applications. 
Q: How widely will the transistor he 

used in the future? 
A: To indicate the range of future ap- 



plications, RCA scientists have demon- 
strated experimental transistorized am- 
plifiers, phonographs, radio receivers 
(AM, FM, and automobile) , tiny trans- 
mitters, electronic computers and a 
number of television circuits. Because 
of its physical characteristics, the trans- 
istors qualify for use in jightweiglit, 
portable instruments. 



RCA scientists, rc-warch men and euni- 
neers, aided by incrca.sed Inhorntonj 
facilities, have intensified their work in 
the field of trnn.mtors. The mnlfiplicifij 
of new applications in both militan/ 
and commercial fields is hcinfi .'studied. 
Already the transistor gives evidence 
that if will greatly extend the base of 
the electronics art info many new fields 
of science, commerce and industry. 
Sucli pioneering a-^.iures finer perform- 
ance from any product or service trade- 
marked RCA and RCA Victor. 



mm 



li.4010 Coiii>on.rno\ or .iMi:niCA 

World leader in radio — first in lele^Lsion 



JULY 1953 



N 



Y 



RADIO^AGE 



RESEARCH • MANUFACTURING • COMMUNICATIONS • BROADCASTING • TELEVISION 



COLOR TELEVISION 




y^ f 



t' 
J . 



j^. 



^m^i^mm 



A NEW HOPE 
FOR HOUSEWrVES 

The daylight hours brighten when Bob Hope calls on 
the nation's housewives each weekday witii his 
brand new radio show. Sparkling humor is the keynote 
but the Jieiv Hope also comments on matters of timely 
mterest and interviews famous guests. Then, too, 
announcer Bill Goodwin joins Bob in running reisartee 
that's sure to bring an apron full of chuckles. 

Jell-O Desserts present 
The Bob Hope Daytime Radio S/tow 
Monday thru Friday on your nearest NBC station.* 
It's home-made for the housewife 

*Hope hasn't forsaken 
nighttime radio or television 
Hear him Wednesday nights o 
NBC radio and watch for 
his full hour television show. 

National 
Broadcasting 
Compa ny 

a service of Radio Corpora/ion of America 





VOLUME 12 NUMBER 3 



iRCH • MANUFACTURING • COMMUNICATIONS 
BROADCASTING •TELEVISION 



CONTENTS 



JULY 1953 




COVER 

Tests by RCA and NBC have 
shown that all colors, such as 
appear in this photograph of 
a TV studio scene, can be 
duplicated on the screens of 
compatible color receivers in 
American homes within range 
of present television stations. 



NOTICE 

When requesting a change in mailing 
address please include the code letters 
and numbers which appear with the 
stencilled address on the envelope. 

Radio Age is published quarterly by 
Ihe Department of Information, Radio 
Corporolion of Americo, 30 Rocte- 
leller Plaza. New York 20, N Y. 

Printed in U S.A. 



Page 

RCA and NBC Petition FCC to Adopt Standards for Commercial 

Broadcasting of Compatible Color Television 3 

Radio-TV Coils Made by Printing 9 

Viewers Get First Scenes of Coronation from NBC Television ... 10 

Radio-TV Broadcasters Honor Sarnoff 13 

Microwaves Aid Flood-Ravaged Holland 14 

by William R. Dean 

RCA Victor Broadcast Station Representatives Cover the Country . . 16 

Safety at Sea Advanced by New Portable Lifeboat Radio .... 18 
by Irving F. Byrnes 

Television Affiliates Reaffirm Complete Confidence in NBC .... 20 

Electronic "Detective" Spots Metal Pieces in Ores and Rocks ... 21 

How Crystals of Quartz Are Fashioned into Electronic Controls . 22 
RCA Set New Sales Record in First Quarter of Year, Stockholders 

are Told 24 

Microwave Radio Becomes More Important to Industries .... 28 




RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA 

RCA Building, New York 20, N.Y. 



DAVID SARNOFF, Chairman of (fie Board 
JOHN Q. CANNON, Secrefory 



FRANK M. FOLSOM, President 
ERNEST B. GORIN, Treasurer 



Services of RCA are: 
RCA Victor Division • RCA Service Company, Inc. • RCA International Division 
National BroacJcasting Company, Inc. • Radiomarine Corporation of America 
RCA Communications, Inc. • RCA Laboratories Division • RCA Institutes, Inc. 
RCA Estate Appliance Corp. • RCA Victor Distributing Corp. 



i\ 




Radiomarine's new portable lifeboat radio is demonstrated by cadets of the U. S. Merchant Marine 

Academy, Kings Point, N. Y. Two cadets in the center are cranking the 60-pound emergency send-receive 

unit which is topped by a 15-foot antenna mast. (Story on page 18) 





■b 




^|b^/\ " ^** 




1 




^U^^^^P^ 




^^^^^^^^^, 


,7'f^^H^SH 


ii 




^1 




j^hhISn^^m 


1 ^^'"'"'^H 


^Si 


Fl 

1^ 


^^SS^^fl^ tipp^ 




■SiS^R 


m 


'HB 


1 


^^^r *J 


91 




«««« 


,11 


r a 

'a 



From an elevated seat on a dolly, an NBC cameraman focuses the 
color TV camera on a Paris street scene in the studio. 



RCA and NBC Petttmi FCC to Adopt 

Standards for Commercial Broadcasting 

of Compatible Color Television 



R 



.ADio Corporation of America and the National 
Broadcasting Company, on June 25, petitioned the Fed- 
eral Communications Commission to adopt compatible 
technical standards permitting the commercial broad- 
casting of color television, it was announced by Brig. 
General David Sarnoff, Chairman of the Board of RCA. 

The 697-page petition states that the color standards 
proposed by RCA and NBC are the signal specifications 
approved by the industry's National Television System 
Committee; that the RCA system which operates on 
these standards meets all criteria established by the FCC 
for a satisfactory color television system; and that, be- 
cause of its compatibility, color programs broadcast on 
the RCA system can be received in black-and-white on 
the millions of sets now in use without any adjustments 
or additions. 

"Our position as a pioneer imposes upon us the 
responsibility to do our best to bring about the early 



introduction and orderly development of compatible 
color television in the interests of the viewing public, 
our sponsors, and the independent stations affiliated with 
our network," General Sarnoff said. "RCA and NBC 
are prepared to invest as much as $15 million during 
color television's introductory year to establish this new 
service on a solid foundation. This would be in addi- 
tion to the $25 million RCA will have spent by the end 
of 1953 in pioneering research and development of com- 
patible color television." 

When the FCC adopts the proposed color standards, 
the petition states, RCA and NBC will: 

1. Expedite production of color receivers, tri-color 
tubes, and broadcasting and studio equipment for sale 
to the public, to television manufacturers and to broad- 
casters. (It is estimated that the first sets produced will 
sell for $800 to $1000, and when mass production is 
achieved prices will be substantially reduced.) 



RADIO AGE 2 



2. Commence broadcasting compatible color tele- 
vision programs which NBC will offer to commercial 
sponsors and its affiliated stations throughout the United 
States. (Already, 41 independent stations affiliated with 
NBC have agreed to a prompt start in broadcasting net- 
work color programs and others are planning to do the 
same. ) 

"RCA and NBC have the know-how to broadcast 
color programs, to build equipment for color broadcast- 
ing and to build sets that will receive these color pro- 
grams," the petition asserts. "In addition, RCA and 
NBC have a nucleus of trained personnel ready to do 
the job." 

General Sarnoff pointed out that in the development 
of any great new service to the American public, some- 
one must always take the lead and incur the initial 
capital risk. "For example," he said, "RCA and NBC 
risked $50 million in developing and introducing black- 
and-white television before getting a cent in return. 
We are now spending $40 million in creating this new 
industry of color television. This is an expenditure that 
must precede the achievement of mass production in 
manufacturing and substantial broadcasting of color 
programs. 

"The next task is to translate the achievements of 
our scientists and engineers into color programs on the 




air and color sets in the nation's homes. This calls for 
a broad-scale effort by the entire radio-television in- 
dustry." 

General Sarnoff said there are approximately 210 set 
manufacturers and 70 tube manufacturers in the radio- 
television industry, and approximately 190 television 
stations now on the air. "It is my great hope," he said, 
"that all of them will participate in the effort to take 
the color television 'baby' out of the cradle and teach 
it to walk. 

RCA Inventions Available to Entire Industry 

"RCA is following the same policy in introducing 
color as it did in black-and-white television, making its 
inventions available to the entire industry. In addition, 
we will manufacture and sell component parts, including 
the tri-color tube, to competing manufacturers and will 
make and sell broadcasting equipment to any station, 
regardless of whether or not it is affiliated with NBC. 

"The radio-television industry can avail itself of the 
scientific inventions and technical 'know-how' that are 
the fruits of RCA's color television investment, without 
incurring any of the major capital risks. This means 
that it is economically practical for other members of 
this highly competitive industry to get into the color 
television field quickly. 

"I am confident that those members of the industry, 
who help to advance color television in its early stages, 
will be proud of the part they play in the development 
of this new service. Once black-and-white television was 
off to a good start, some of those who feared and opposed 
it the most, soon became television's most enthusiastic 
supporters. We can expect the same thing to happen 
in the case of color television." 

General Sarnoff said that the standards proposed to 
the FCC were sufficiently high to leave ample room for 
future developments. "Like the tracks of a railroad," he 
continued, "these standards provide color television with 
a gauge for a high-quality right-of-way. Like railroad 
cars, color television receivers can be changed and im- 
proved in the future, and still operate on the same 
standards or tracks. 

"Color television is a major step forward in the 
science and art of seeing by radio. It will be revolu- 
tionary in its effect upon communications. Color greatly 
enhances the beauty and attractiveness of objects and 
scenes. It gives more information and increases our 
powers of memory and identification. It is a powerful 
aid to advertising. It is a new dimension that will in- 
Color cameras, microphone boom and spot-lights ore 
set up for a color TV program in RCA-NBC's Colonial 
Theatre, New York. 

4 RADIO AGE 



Color TV control console 
at Colonial Theatre. 




crease the public's enjoyment of news events, entertain- 
ment and education. " 

Pilot Production of Color Sets Possible 
by Spring of 1954 

Dr. C. B. Jolliffe, Vice President and Technical 
Director of RCA, estimated, in a statement included in 
the RCA petition, that if the FCC approves the proposed 
new standards by the end of the Summer of 1953, a 
pilot production of color receivers can start during the 
Spring of 1954. 

In addition. Dr. Jolliffe said, to facilitate the intro- 
duction of commercial color television broadcasting, 
RCA's initial plans are to produce appropriate broadcast 
equipment on a custom basis. "This will enable broad- 
casters," he stated, "to proceed with color television 
early in 1954." 

RCA System is Compatible 

The RCA color system is compatible with the 
present black-and-white television, the petition con- 
tinues, and programs broadcast using the RCA system 
can be received in natural color on color receivers and 
in high definition black-and-white on the more than 
24,000,000 black-and-white receivers already in the 
hands of the American public without changing them 
or adding to them in any way. 

The petition states the belief that the present field 
sequential color television standards based upon an in- 



compatible color television system are "sterile and that 
their continuance is not in the public interest." 

It is pointed out in the petition that the black-and- 
white sets now in use, "representing an investment of 
billions of dollars, would be 'blind' to incompatible color 
broadcasts." The petition also points out that RCA and 
NBC know of no one who plans to manufacture or 
broadcast incompatible color television. 

Regarding the proposed new standards for com- 
patible color television, the petition states that they are 
"technical signal specifications approved February 2, 
1953, by outstanding engineers and scientists of the 
radio and television industry, including members of 
Petitioners' staffs, through the National Television Sys- 
tem Committee. Petitioner knows of no responsible 
engineer or scientist in the radio and television field 
who proposes adoption of any other color standards. " 

For testing the RCA color television system and the 
proposed new standards, RCA and NBC offered to 
"make their laboratory, studios, transmitter, test equip- 
ment and other facilities freely available" to the FCC 
and members of its staff. 

RCA System Aleets FCC Criteria 

The petition states that extensive field tests, includ- 
ing thousands of hours of color transmissions, and public 
reaction studies show that the RCA system satisfied all 
the criteria previously specified (June 11, 1951) for 
color television by the FCC. These criteria include color 



RADIO AGE 5 



fidelity, picture definition and brightness, simplicity of 
operation in broadcasting and receiving equipment, 
costs, freedom from interference, and networking. 

Price of Color Receivers 

Dr. Jolliffe said that the introductory retail price of 
the first RCA color television receivers will be between 
$800 and $1000. The picture size of the first color 
television receivers will be equal to a 14-inch black- 
and-white tube. 

For comparison, Dr. Jolliffe pointed out that the 
retail price of a 12-inch black-and-white television set 
introduced in 1939, was approximately $560. However, 
he said, taking into account the change in price levels 
— based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics Price Index — 
this 1939 price would be approximately $1,050 in terms 
of 1953 dollars. 

Price Reductions Foreseen 

"A major item in the price of a color television 
receiver is the tri-color kinescope," he continued. "The 
price and size history of black-and-white kinescopes will 
be followed in color kinescopes. Prices will be reduced 
and sizes and quality increased as quantity production is 
attained by manufacturers of kinescopes. 

"If standards for commercial broadcasting of com- 
patible color television are adopted by the Commission 
thus enabling compatible color receivers to be manu- 



factured on a mass production basis, experience and 
competition will inevitably result in bringing about sub- 
stantial reductions in the price of color receivers." 

Dr. Jolliffe said that the cost of station apparatus for 
the RCA color television system successfully meets the 
FCC criterion that it should not be "so high as unduly 
to restrict the class of persons who can afford to operate 
a television station." 

"A television station does not need to equip color 
studios in order to broadcast network color programs," 
Dr. Jolliffe said. "The station can take color programs 
from the network by making relatively minor expendi- 
tures for equipment and standard stock items, plus in 
most cases certain additional sums for test equipment. 
The station operator may expand his operations by 
adding a color sUde camera, color film equipment and 
color cameras if he desires to provide programs from 
local sources. The amount and total cost of such equip- 
ment will depend on the kind and extent of local color 
program material the broadcast station owner elects to 
provide. 

"The present prices are preliminary estimates based 
on existing conditions, present equipment designs and 
limited ptoduction. Provided other conditions remain 
the same, it is anticipated that substantial price reduc- 
tions will be made when commercial product designs ate 
finalized and the production of color equipment in- 
creases." 



Tri-color TV kinescopes are inspected during a pilot-production run at RCA's tube plant, 

Lancaster, Pennsylvania. 



\ 



Ul 







RCA's Manufacturing Plans 

Dr. Jolliffe said that RCA has established a pilot 
plant for the production of RCA tri-color kinescopes 
within its tube plant at Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Within 
a few months, he continued, this pilot operation can 
attain a production rate of 2,000 tubes per month. 

"In response to demand for more tri-color kinescopes 
than can be produced in the pilot production unit," he 
pointed out, "operations can be expanded into existing 
black-and-white kinescope production facilities, with 
suitable modification of such facilities and the addition 
of the specialized items needed for tri-color kinescope 
production. 

"Factory space for producing RCA color television 
receivers is available and necessary test equipment has 
been determined. Manufacturing personnel has exam- 
ined the engineering samples of model RCA color tele- 
vision receivers and are agreed that no unusual manufac- 
turing problems are involved. 

"While a substantially increased number of compon- 
ent parts are required for a color television receiver as 
compared with a black-and-white receiver, and circuits 
require a greater degree of testing and adjustment, 
manufacturing techniques will be basically the same as 
for black-and-white television receivers." 

Dr. Jolliffe said that the proposed technical signal 
specifications make provision for future improvements 
in equipment at both transmitter and receiver without 
requiring a change in standards or obsoleting receivers 
in the public's hands. 

NBC Color Telecasting Plans and Policies 

The National Broadcasting Company's color tele- 
vision programming plans and policies are outlined in 
the petition. Highlights of these plans and policies are: 

The first immediate proposal of NBC consists of 
starting "an introductory year," in the course of which 
all the engineering and programming groups of NBC 
will have a chance to get direct experience in color- 
casting, it was said, because they will produce their 
present black-and-white television shows in color pre- 
mieres. 

The petition stated: 

"We have now worked out a rough schedule of color- 
casts from the Colonial Theatre in New York, and 3H 
in our Radio City studios, which are the two present 
color-equipped studios of the National Brodacasting 
Company . . . We expect to average two shows a week 
from the Colonial, and the two shows will average an 
hoiu- together. 3H will be reserved for continued tech- 
nical experiment. 

"We will schedule the color premieres, out of the 




Facade of Colonial Theatre, New York, originating point 
of the majority of color TV programs broadcast experi- 
mentally by RCA and NBC. 

Colonial Theatre, on a rotational basis of all our black- 
and-white attractions, so that each show is seen in color 
at least once, in a specially-devised color show, which 
will still be great in black and white, but we hope superb 
in color. We will include the NBC opera in English, 
Toscanini, Great Conversations, and other occasional as 
well as regular shows. 

"When the great shows and the regular shows of 
NBC are offered in their color premieres at the average 
rate of two a week from the Colonial, the advertiser 
will offer his advertising in color with the show. In the 
case of multiple sponsors, we hope to offer all adver- 
tisers the same opportunity. 

"Local events and exhibits and celebrations can all 
be covered in color. When important enough, we would 
hope to use our remote equipment to bring the scene 
on a special event pick-up basis." 

The petition points up the fact, now that a practical 
(Continued on page 31) 



RADIO AGE 7 




A copper-clad sheet of ploslic, on which electronic 
circuits will be printed by photography, is highly 
polished before the light-sensitive emulsion is applied. 



This gloss negative will be used to produce an unlimited 
number of accurate replicas in an automatic photo- 
printing machine. 





In this heat tank, the sensitized copper-clad plastic sheet 

is dried rapidly under a bank of infra-red lamps and 

over a row of gas burners. 



Here, the sheet of printed circuits, with all unwanted 

areas etched away by an acid bath, goes into a bake 

oven, as one of the final production steps. 



Radio -TV Coils Made by Printing 

Photo-crching Process Developed by RCA Victor Permirs Mass Production 
of Identical Components from a Photographic Negative. 



^ADIOS, TV receivers, and communications equip- 
ment that can be made more compact and efficient were 
envisioned with the announcement that printed-circuit 
electronic inductors, mass-produced for general use by 
the Tube Department of the RCA Victor Division, are 
now generally available. In such components, printed 
circuitry replaces conventional wire windings with coils 
that are etched on flat surfaces. 

These revolutionary components, presently limited 
to six types of intermediate frequency (IF) transform- 
ers, induction coils, and wave traps, are produced by a 
special process which makes possible virtually limitless 
production of identical electronic circuits from a single 
photographic negative. 

Conventional inductors depend upon coils of hand- 
wound or machine-wound copper wire to provide the 
desired inductance values. With the printed circuit 
method, the coils of copper wire are eliminated. Instead, 
inductances are provided by flat inductors having rec- 
tangular windings which are photographically printed 




MX 



>i% 



0^ 




A complete printed circuit i.f. transformer and its shield 

(in hands) are compared with older type components 

(on table) to show comparative sizes. 



on plastic strips on which a layer of copper has been 
deposited. 

The production of a printed-circuit component be- 
gins with a photograph of the pattern of the required 
circuit. A contact print of the negative is then made on 
a copper-clad plastic strip which has been coated with 
a light-sensitive material. Following this operation, the 
strip is developed and placed in an etching solution. The 
unexposed parts of the copper are eaten away, leaving 
an accurate, sharply defined reproduction of the desired 
copper circuit. After the strip has undergone additional 
processing, it is inserted in a metal case or shield. 



Uniformity Always Maintained 

So precise that it will faithfully reproduce a line 
width of copper as narrow as one-hundredth of an inch, 
the process assures the uniformity of any quantity of 
"copy" circuits produced by the master circuit on the 
photographic plate. 

The photographic printing of electronic circuits pre- 
sages unprecedented accuracy in the production and 
assembly of components and provides precision control 
of such vital factors as the coefficient of coupling. Fur- 
ther, the printed-circuit technique points the way to 
more economical and streamlined production of com- 
ponents, makes possible circuit arrangements impossible 
under conventional wire-winding techniques, indicates 
appreciable simplification in component design, and 
facilitates rapid and inexpensive circuit changes since 
only a new negative is required. 

Printed-circuit components themselves, by nature of 
their radical design and high uniformity, make possible 
simplification of equipment design, reduction in the 
number of required parts, and a simplification of equip- 
ment servicing and alignment. 

Simplification of servicing and alignment are illus- 
trated by the new RCA components, which are housed 
within tiny metal shield cans measuring only seven- 
eighths of an inch square and two-and-one-quarter-inches 
high. 

The new components are intermediate-frequency 
types designed for television sets utilizing intercarrier- 
sound systems and incorporating picture IF and sound 
IF carriers of 45.75 and 41.25 m.c, respectively. 

RADIO AGE 9 



Viewers Get First Scenes of Coronation 
from NBC Television 



Eight Months of Planning for Royal 
Establish New Records of 

J__/ONG range planning — the kind of planning that 
anticipates all conceivable setbacks and disappointments 
achieved new records for NBC on June 2 when the 
network provided American TV viewers with the most 
complete coverage of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth. 

As a result of this painstaking thoroughness in 
preparation: 

5 NBC-TV flashed the first still pictures of the 
Coronation ceremonies only nine minutes after they 
were taken in London. 

51 The network presented, at 4: 14 p.m., the first actual 
motion pictures of the Coronation seen in this country. 

5 NBC-TV telecast more hours of Coronation Day 
activities than any other network. 

51 NBC Coronation coverage reached more people, on 
both radio and TV, than did the coverage of any other 
network according to a survery conducted by Audience 
Research Bureau. This coverage, on both media, was 
sponsored by General Motors. 

Right: These American-type microwave receivers, sup- 
ported on a specially built tov/er near Blackbushe, were 
used to pick up TV signals from the BBC station in 
London. The signals were then fed to kinescope recorders. 

Film recording and editing equipment installed at the 
Blackbushe Airport outside London for the rapid process- 
ing of Coronation films before their shipment to the 
United States by fast plane. 



Pageant Made it Possible fot Netvv^otk to 
Leadership in Radio and TV 

The network had planned to score a beat of several 
hours over other television networks by flying Corona- 
tion films back to this country in an English Electric 
Canberra jet bomber belonging to the Venezuelan Gov- 
ernment. The plane had been delivered by its manufac- 
turer to Blackbushe Airport, near London, where NBC 
had set up an elaborate installation to kinescope the 
British Broadcasting Corporation telecast. NBC assumed 
the expense of ferrying the jet across the Atlantic in 
return for the transport of the films. 

Piloted by Capt. J. W. Hackett, who on May 12 had 
set an unofficial trans-Atlantic record in a similar aircraft, 
the jet took off at 6:24 a.m., EDT., but two hours out 
over the Atlantic was forced to turn back because of a 
defective fuel connection. 

BBC, the only television organization permitted to 
film the ancient rites in Westminster Abbey also offered 
kinescopes of its coverage to Canadian and American 
networks, the films to be flown over in three Royal Air 
Force Canberra jet bombers. 

NBC hired a souped-up P-51 racing plane, piloted 






mm » 








NBC film technicians, working in an airborne laboratory, 

edit Coronation films while the Pan American Clipper 

was flying from London to Boston. 

by Stanley Reaver of the Paul Mantz flying organization, 
to stand by at Goose Bay, Labrador, to pick up the first 
films to arrive there and shuttle them down to Boston's 
Logan Airport, where they could be put on the 67- 
station network waiting for them. 

Also waiting at Goose Bay was a Canadian Royal 
Air Force jet, which had been assigned to speed the films 
800 miles to Montreal for presentation by the Canadian 
Broadcasting Corporation. When it became apparent to 
NBC officials at Logan Airport that the CBC jet would 
reach Montreal before the P-51 could reach Boston, 900 
miles distant, Charles C. Barry, NBC vice president in 
charge of programs, and William R. McAndrew, man- 
ager of news and special events, decided to take the 
program from the CBC line rather than wait for the 
shuttle plane from Labrador. By following this pro- 
cedure, NBC made it possible for its 67 affiliates to trans- 
mit the first Coronation films to be seen in America. 
The time was 4:14 p.m., EDT, a clear beat of 10 minutes 
over NBC's principal network rival. 

Although the decision to tap into CBCs facilities 
was made at the last minute, arrangements for such a 
contingency had been completed between CBC and NBC 
last winter. Had the secret NBC jet, known as the 
Albion Arroif, completed its flight with the first films, 
CBC would have been able to draw its programs from 
that telecast. 

As McAndrew pointed out: "Our objective all the 
time was to get the story on TV ahead of all others. 



We didn't care whether we did it with the Albion Arrow, 
or by way of the RAF to Goose Bay, the RCAF to 
Montreal, by electronic means through the CBC, or any 
other way." 

NBC was the only full network prepared to take the 
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation transmission when 
that organization put the films on the air. The sequences 
were carried until 6 p.m. EDT. 

NBC-TV's later Coronation program, from 10:30 
p.m., to midnight, EDT., originated from Logan Airport. 
Films made in London by NBC camera crews were 
flown over non-stop in a Pan American Super-Six Clip- 
per, in which film editing equipment had been installed 
so that a completely edited, polished program could be 
presented upon landing. The Clipper landed at Logan 
at 8:47 p.m. EDT., establishing a new London-Boston 
record (12 hours, 35 minutes) for propeller-driven 
aircraft. Riding the plane were commentators Henry 
Cassidy and Merrill Mueller, the first eye-witnesses of 
the Coronation events to return to this country. 

Final Coronation films — those of the pool and 
NBC's own — arrived at Logan Airport at 10:00 p.m. 
EDT., in a converted A-26 attack bomber owned by 
Cities Service Petroleum, Inc. The A-26 had picked up 
these films from another RAF jet at Goose Bay. These 
films, which included those made of the procession fol- 
lowing the actual Coronation, were integrated into the 
10:30-to-midnight program. In addition to the live 
commentary of Cassidy and Mueller, Sir Ralph Richard- 
son, the distinguished British actor, appeared in a filmed 
commentary on the "Liber Regalis," the ancient book 
used in the solemn ceremony. 

Small Air Bubble Wrecks Plans 
The abbreviated flight by Captain Hackett in NBC's 
secret jet, the Albion Arrow, was a story in itself. It 
took only a small air bubble to shatter the plans which 
had been months in the making. Hackett, a former RAF 
flier now employed by Silver City Airways, Ltd., left 
Blackbushe Airport near London at 6:24 a.m. EDT., and 
was averaging 570 miles per hour. Once his wing tank 
was emptied of fuel, he discovered that the feed from a 
supplementary tank was jammed. He dived his plane 
straight down from 40,000 to 20,000 feet, trying to 
remedy the trouble. Then he stood the plane on its 
tail and shook the stick to the point where the jets 
aknost "flamed out." Nothing worked. Without his full 
load of fuel, he knew that he could never make it to 
Gander, Newfoundland, so he turned back. 

Coronation Day coverage on NBC-TV began at 
5:30 a.m. EDT., on the news and special events program, 
"Today." Dramatic, almost simultaneous, still pictures 
of the event were transmitted across the Atlantic to the 



RADIO AGE ?? 




Charles H. Colledge of NBC's Public Affairs Department 

inspects the transmitting unit of a Mufax transmitting 

unit from which still pictures were sent direct to New 

York by transatlantic radio. 

Below: Sylvester L. Weaver, Jr., Vice Chairman of the 
NBC Board (left) and Dave Garroway, of the "Today" 
program, with a Mufax receiver installed in Radio City. 




"Today" newsroom set, where they were reproduced on 
a recently developed facsimile receiver, called Mufax. 

At 5:35 a.m. EDT., just nine minutes after Queen 
Elizabeth had entered the state coach for her trip to 
Westminster Abbey, the picture was on American tele- 
vision screens. In all, the Mufax machine received a total 
of 86 pictures. Gibson Parker, British radio and TV 
personality, was at Muirhead, the transmission point in 
England, and was in direct radio telephone contact with 
"Today's" commentators, Garroway and Frank Blair. 
Parker commented on the pictures while they were 
appearing on American television screens. 



The signals which supplied Mufax equipment were 
transmitted over transatlantic circuits of RCA Com- 
munications, Inc. Preparations for handling this part of 
the Coronation coverage began last November when 
RCA Communications engineers started their tests to 
determine the method that would provide the fastest 
service and the best quality of pictures. RCA Communi- 
cations circuits also were used to bring the BBC com- 
mentary from London to the radio networks of this 
country. 

But not all the credit for comprehensive coverage 
could go to TV. NBC radio was present alongside the 
younger medium at every high spot of the London 
activities. Beginning at 5:15 a.m., and continuing in 
periods until 1 1 p.m., the radio network was on the air 
for a total of 55^^ hours with on-the-spot descriptions 
of the pageantry, solemn ceremony and exultation. In 
addition NBC radio's regular news shows carried ex- 
tensive Coronation coverage. 

Heard on the NBC radio Coronation shows were 
commentators Henry Cassidy, Merrill Mueller, George 
Hicks, Frank Bourgholtzer, John Farrell, Morgan Beatty, 
Ed Newman, Ray Henle, Bill Sprague and Leon Pearson, 
and John Snagge, dean of BBC commentators. 

NBC's Coronation coverage was supervised by 
Davidson Taylor, network director of public affairs. 
William R. McAndrew manager of news and special 
events, was TV producer at the American end. Romney 
Wheeler, London bureau manager, acted as TV producer 
in England. Charles Colledge and George McElrath 
supervised the operational aspects. 




I 



An NBC television camera at Logan Airport, Boston, 

awaits plane bringing Coronation films from Goose 

Bay, Labrador. 



72 RADIO AGE 



Radio- TV Broadcasters Honor Sarnoff 

Chairman of RCA-NBC in Keynote Address at NARTB Convention said Television Should 
Be No Place for Get-Rich-Quick Wallingfords — New Scientific Developments in the Offing 

J-ELEVISION should be no place for "get-rich-quick 
Wallingfords more interested in what they can take 
than what they can give," said Brig. General David 
Sarnoff, Chairman of the Board, Radio Corporation of 
America, in the keynote address at the National As- 
sociation of Radio and Television Broadcasters Conven- 
tion, in Los Angeles on April 29. 

General Sarnoff, who also is Chairman of the Board 
of the National Broadcasting Company, received the 
First Annual Keynoter Award of the NARTB, which 
cited him as a pioneer in broadcasting "whose vision, 
industry, leadership and faith are essential components 
of the free American system of broadcasting ... for his 
good citizenship in the quiet hours and in the hours of 
strife ... for the steadfastness which has marked his 
achievements in modern times . . . and because he has 
shared his great dream of communications with the mil- 
lions whom we serve." 




Highlights of General Sarnoff's Address 

Among the highlights of General Sarnoff's address 
were: 

( 1 ) A thousand television stations will be in 
operation within a few years. Television networks 
will reach into ail parts of the country, providing a 
national program service that will make present sched- 
ules seem primitive. 

(2) There is no doubt that operations in UHF 
(ultra high frequencies) will fill a place of growing 
significance in television. 

( 3 ) Hopes the day is not far off when compatible 
color television will be authorized for commercial 
broadcasting. This will make television more exciting, 
more dramatic and more enjoyable. 

(4) Television can solve its economic problems 
without a "cash box ' in the home. 

( 5 ) Television can learn much from the motion 
picture world, but there is also a good deal it must 
learn to forget. 

( 6) Radio broadcasting, far from being "doomed" 
within three years, as forecast by prophets of 1949, 



Brig. General David SarnofF (right) receives Keynoter 
Award of National Association of Radio-Television 
Broadcasters from Harold E. Fellows, NARTB President. 



still renders a vital national service after four years 

have passed; over-all time sales have increased and 

fundamental changes are under way. 

( 7 ) New scientific advances in radio, television 

and electronics are in the offing. These include; 
Transistors, which promise to become the master 
key to new progress in radio and television as a 
device making possible instruments of smaller size, 
greater versatility and longer life. 
Electronic tape recorders for television program 
storage, with greater advantages of economy and 
convenience. 

Closed-circuit TV techniques and devices which 
will provide visual intercommunications systems 
for industry, science and education. 
An electronic "voting system" using home tele- 
vision receivers with a button which when pushed 
will register "yes" or "no" at the TV station. This 
may lead to a national push-button poll of public 
opinion automatically tabulated by electronic com- 
puters. 



RADIO AGE 13 



V'^ 




Convoy of 5th Radio Relay Squadron halts for a rest while on forced drive from Fontainebleau 
to aid storm-harassed Netherlanders. 

Microwaves Aid Flood-Ravaged Holland 

3rh Radio Relay Squadron of Allied Air Forces Rushes RCA Trans- 
mitters Across France to Key Cities in Storm-Harassed Netherlands. 



By William R. Dean 

Engineer, 
RCA Sert'ice Co.. Inc. 



o 



N February 5, 1953, the Communications Group 
at Allied Air Forces of Central Europe received an urgent 
request to come to the aid of the flood ravaged areas of 
The Netherlands. In that country a combination of un- 
usually high tides and ocean gales, smashing with little 
warning at dikes and jetties, had backed the waters of 
the rivers upstream and over the banks onto the farms 
and cities of the low lands. With normal life paralyzed, 
hundreds dead and thousands in acute danger, the 5 th 
Radio Relay Squadron, stationed at Fontainebleau, fifteen 
miles to the south of Paris, was selected to provide the 
desired aid. 

A convoy was dispatched on February 7. They took 
with them two RCA Type CW-20A microwave ter- 
minal stations and one repeater station. Also included 
in the convoy were supporting vehicles carrying supplies 
and replacement parts. After a difficult 500-mile trip 
over rough, icy roads, made longer by many detours 
due to the floods, the men and their equipment arrived 
in Rotterdam on February 8. Despite the obstacles 



they encountered, they averaged 20 m.p.h. on the trip. 

In Rotterdam the group reported to the local tele- 
phone center for further instructions. Major Wesley E. 
Rankin, Commanding Officer of the Squadron, who had 
gone on ahead of the convoy to coordinate the project, 
was ready to deploy the equipment immediately. 

It had been decided to employ the microwave equip- 
ment to supplement a badly damaged telephone cable 
between Rotterdam and Middeiharnis, main distribution 
points of the Netherlands Telephone System. Middei- 
harnis, located on the island of Goeree-Overflakke, about 
60 miles from Rotterdam was one of the hardest hit 
places in Holland and communications with that city, to 
handle flood control and flood relief, was essential. 

Convoy Brought Own Power Plants 

One Gl crew, under WOjg Albert D. Creel, was 
dispatched immediately for Goeree-Overflakke to pro- 
cure a site near Middeiharnis. They settled on the nearby 
town of Dirksland, location of a local telephone ex- 
change where connections could be made into Middei- 
harnis. The equipment was installed near the telephone 
office. Motor driven power units which had been 
brought from Fontainebleau, supplied the power. 



14 RADIO AGE 



The men assigned to erect the tower arrived at Dirks- 
land on February 10 and completed their job on the 
same day. Meanwhile, the town of Barendrecht had been 
selected as the site of the other radio communications 
terminal. Barendrecht, 5 miles from Rotterdam, is the 
location of another telephone exchange. The second 
tower and transmitter-receiver were installed there on 
February 9. 

Prospects Doubtful at First 

Installation at both ends had been completed by the 
evening of the 10th. Lacking adequate maps, it was 
impossible to determine the exact bearings or distance 
between terminals so the decision to use or not to use 
the repeater station had to be postponed temporarily. 
The distance that had to be spanned was approximately 
22 miles, two-thirds of which was flooded, giving no 
satisfactory spot for a repeater tower. Because of the 
limited height of the 60-foot towers and the hck of 
natural elevations, little hope was held out for depend- 
able communications under this arrangement. 

On the II th and 12th, attempts to establish contact 



between the two terminals were unsuccessful. Sum- 
moned from Fontainebleau, I arrived late on the night 
of the 12th with accurate maps of the vicinity. With 
their aid the antennas were reoriented, and contact be- 
tween terminals was established at noon on the 13th. 
The signals were of sufficient strength to enable Captain 
Charles C. CuUey, the officer in charge, to decide that 
the repeater would not be needed. 

Even though the radio relay equipment was not in- 
tended to operate into the particular type switchboard 
used at Middelharnis this minor difficulty was quickly 
solved. A step-down transformer was located and used 
to reduce the 11 5 -volt supply voltage to that needed to 
operate the switchboard drops. Communications from 
Middelharnis to Rotterdam was checked out on the 14th 
of February. Twelve voice channels of the 24 available 
over the microwave system were placed in use. 

These radio circuits continued in operation until 
March 2 when the telephone officials informed Captain 
Culley that the cable damage had been repaired. There 
was no funher need for the microwave equipment. The 
Dutch Telephone Company and the Signal Corps ex- 
pressed thanks and congratulations for a job well done. 




G.l.'s erect emergency microwave tower near Rotterdam 
to supply commun'cations over Holland's flooded areas. 



RCA microwave transmitters like the one above replaced 
ruptured phone lines after European floods. 



RADIO AGE 15 



RCA Victor Broadcast Station I 






INOKTH DAKOT A ^I 



/ 




J A IJULESI RENHARD 
r,365 Bpach Diive 




4^:*^ 



h. 



> . 


_„ 


v'. 1 (WUODY) 


EBERHART 


M ( N Lake Sh 


jre Drive 


I h,ca90 11 
1 Teleptione Dela'^ 


are 7-0700 



77 — i 



S O U r H DAKOTA 









NEBRA SKA 



1355 Market Street 
■^an Francisco 3 Calrlornia 
Telephone Hemlock 1-8300 




E (JACK) FROST 






"T 




COLOR 



W B (WALT) VARNUM 



K A N S 



T: 



^-^ i ! 

^ J. F. (JOHN) PALMQUIST O K 1. A 
.I'^f^i 1907-11 McKinney Ave ,,ki..h..i.... . " 

V If Dallas 1. Texas 

J*,^ f Telephone: Riversirte 1371 ■— ^ 



U^« 



ARIZONA 



NEW M E X I C O j 

I 




J. N, (JIM) BARCLAY 



jsentatives Cover the Country 




-^ 



-f/ 



Safety at Sea Advanced by New 

Portable Lifeboat Radio 



By Irving F. Byrnes 

Vice President in Charge of Engineering, 
Radiomarine Corporation of America 



B, 



'ROADLY defined, a modern lifeboat radio set is a 
completely self-contained radiotelegraph station which, 
in an emergency, can be transferred from a stricken 
vessel into a lifeboat, to serve there as a means of contact 
with land, other ships or rescuing parties. In the newest 
Radiomarine version, the set comprises a metal con- 
tainer, less than two cubic feet in volume, in which are 
nested a two-frequency transmitter and receiver, an 
automatic keyer, a hand generator for power supply and 
all necessary material for an antenna system. 

The weight of the complete set is under 60 pounds 
and it is built to withstand a 20-foot drop into the sea 
from a ship's deck. Naturally, it is watertight and 
buoyant. 

To operate the station, the container is first lashed 
to a thwart of the lifeboat and the antenna system as- 
sembled, after which the portable unit is ready to per- 
form its lifesaving functions. 

Several fearures are built into the Radiomarine 
equipment to make it possible for those unfamiliar with 
the telegraph code to operate it effectively. These 
features include automatic transmission of alarm signals 
and SOS signals on the distress frequency of 500 kc, 
followed by more SOS signals and a long dash on 8,364 
kc. A period of about two minutes is required for this 
group of signals which are repeated over and over as 
long as the generator is being cranked. Besides auto- 
matic operation there are provisions for normal two-way 
communication whereby the radio receiver can be 
switched on for either frequency. 

Power Supply Was One Probletn 

There were a number of interesting problems that 
required solution in designing this equipment. One of 
these is the hand generator used as the power supply. 
Here is a case where manpower, in the literal sense, is 
the basic source of energy. The first step is to convert 
this manpower into horsepower. Previous experience 
with the design of hand generators has shown that one- 
eighth of a horsepower is about the maximum that 
should be demanded. This is roughly equivalent to a 




Merchant Marine cadet shows how telegraph key is 
pressed to send appeals for aid manually, as others in 
lifeboat generate power by cranks on sides of radio unit. 

force of nine pounds on each handle at a cranking speed 
of 65 revolutions per minute. One able-bodied man can 
withstand such a load for about four or five minutes. 
In most cases two men will crank simultaneously, one 
on each crank. This, of course, results in much less 
fatigue and a longer operating period. 

The energy applied to the generator cranks is equal 
to about 90 watts. The generator delivers an output of 
50 watts. The difference of 40 watts is consumed as 
losses in the generator itself and in the gearing, bearings 
and so forth. This may appear to be low efficiency, but 
it is typical for a small, carefully designed machine of 
this class. 

The radio transmitter has only four tubes. The 
power delivered to the antenna is about two watts on 
500 kc and five watts on 8,364 kc. Having two fre- 
quencies enables both short-distance and long-distance 
communication to be obtained. 

An important part of the transmitter is the automatic 
keying mechanism, a motor driven device which opens 
and closes various switches. It might be called the 
mechanical "brain" of the transmitter. It has a "mem- 



J8 RADIO AGE 



ory" of 120 seconds and, parrot-like, will repeat its 
message every two minutes as long as the hand generator 
is cranked. One complete group of signals may be de- 
scribed as follows: On 500 kc, the auto alarm signal is 
transmitted for 60 seconds. This comprises a series of 
a dozen four-second dashes, separated by spaces of one 
second duration. At the end of the alarm signal — and 
still on 500 kc — the SOS signal is transmitted three 
times within a period of fifteen seconds. The keying 
device, in less than one second, now switches the circuits 
to 8,364 kc. Three SOS signals are sent out on this 
frequency followed by a long dash lasting thirty seconds. 
Transmission then reverts to 500 kc, and the sequence 
is repeated. 

Two-way communication with the lifeboat set re- 
quires, of course, that the radio receiver be switched into 
the circuits. For two-way service the receiver may be 
used for the 500 kc or the 8,364 kc bands. It is fixed- 
tuned for the band 492 to 508 kc and is also tunable 
from 8,250 to 8,750 kc. Novel circuits have been devel- 
oped so that several functions are performed by only 
three conventional tubes. 

Receivers Are Simple Instruments 

For the 500 kc band the receiver is a simple two- 
stage radio-frequency amplifier followed by a germanium 
diode detector and a combined audio amplifier and beat 
frequency oscillator. For the eight megacycle band the 
receiver becomes a tunable superheterodyne with a 500 
kc intermediate frequency amplifier. 

One problem which is peculiar to a portable set for 
Lifeboats is the antenna system. During World War II 
lifeboat antennas were supported by the sailing mast, by 

This early version of a Radiomarine lifeboat radio 

weighed 150 pounds and used a helium filled balloon 

to lift and support the antenna. 




kites or by balloons. Such arrangements are generally 
not compatible with the concept of self-contained port- 
ability. The 1948 Safety Convention specified a self- 
supported antenna or one supported by the lifeboat mast. 
Since some of the newer lifeboats do not have masts, 
optional arrangements are desirable as an integral part 
of the radio equipment. 

In the Radiomarine set, the basic radiator is a sec- 
tionalized aluminum rod which can be stowed inside 
the front cover of the unit. Although this rod is col- 
lapsible for stowage purposes, it is not telescopic. This 
rod is made up of eleven captivated sections, fastened to 
one another by internal flexible cables. Each section has 
a built-in socket which fits into its adjoining mate. The 
assembled height is 15 feet. Such a rod may be put 
together quickly without losing any of the parts. 

The lower end of the rod plugs into a special insu- 
lated socket at the top of the lifeboat set. A 15-foot 
vertical antenna should be stayed in some manner to 
prevent excessive whipping in high winds, and also to 
increase its radiation efficiency. This is done by four 
pieces of flexible wire, each eight feet long, connected 
near the top of the rod and then stayed off through 
insulators and ropes to the sides of the lifeboat. 

There are two other optional antenna arrangements 
for the types of lifeboats which have masts. A flexible 
wire can be rigged between the top of the aluminum 
rod and the mast. If the rod is lost or damaged, a single 
wire antenna can be run from the top of the set to the 
mast. Extra wire and insulators are stowed in the cover 
for these arrangements. 

Insulators Made of Special Plastic 
The material from which the insulators are made is a 
plastic with the formidable name of Tetrafluoroethylene. 
Its short name is Teflon, a Dupont trademark. This 
plastic is light, flexible and has extremely low moisture 
absorption and radio frequency losses. 

A final word about the physical aspects of the equip- 
ment. The aluminum cabinet is reinforced internally 
to withstand the drop test. The front cover, held in 
place with spring latches has a watertight gasket. All 
front panel devices, since they are exposed to the weather 
during operation, have rubber seals. The sockets for the 
generator cranks appear to be open, but just inside they 
are sealed with a flexible metal bellows coupling. The 
set is painted with a color known as Munsell 7.5 Red, 
w-hich some have called "shocking pink". 

Radiomarine has developed and manufactured sev- 
eral types of lifeboat sets since 1936. This new equip- 
ment meets all requirements of the Safety of Life at 
Sea Convention as well as Rules and Regulations of 
the Federal Communications Commission for lifeboat 
portable radio sets. 

rad;o age 19 



Television Affiliates Reaffirm 
Complete Confidence in NBC 

T 

JL ELEVISION affiliates of the National Broadcasting 
Company adjourned their meeting on May 27 with 
unanimous adoption of a resolution reaffirming their 
confidence in the National Broadcasting Company and 
its continued leadership in the broadcasting industry. 

A committee, headed by Walter J. Damm, vice 
president and general manager of WTMJ and WTMJ- 
TV, Milwaukee, and chairman of the affiliates' group, 
personally presented the resolution to Brig. Gen. David 
Sarnoff, chairman of the boards of NBC and RCA, in 
his office at NBC. 

The text of the resolution: 

"Be it resolved: That we, the television affiliates 
of the National Broadcasting Company, who today 
(May 26) at Princeton had the privilege of review- 
ing in detail with General Sarnoff the position of 
RCA and NBC in broadcasting and television hereby 
reaffirm our complete confidence in the National 
Broadcasting Company and heartily endorse its pro- 
gram as revealed to us by General Sarnoff. 

"This confidence is predicated upon the unques- 
tionable leadership displayed by RCA and NBC in 
radio and television over the past years and the stead- 
fast belief that General Sarnoff's position with respect 
to color television and various other current and 
future developments in the broadcasting field are 
fully as sound and unerring as previous decisions and 
predictions which he has made including his prophecy 
of the assured future of television, pronounced at 
Atlantic City in 1947. 

"The rapid approach of color television and RCA's 
tremendous strides in that area in our opinion more 
than justify our confidence in our future as NBC 
affiliates, and a careful analysis of the present and 
projected program and sales plans of NBC leaves us 
with the conviction that they cannot be successfully 
assailed by expedient competitive attack or propa- 
ganda. 

"In this confidence we adjourn our meeting with 
unanimous approval and endorsement of the RCA- 
NBC program as outlined to us today." 

In accepting the resolution. General Sarnoff told the 
affiliates' committee he accepted it as an expression of 
confidence in the NBC staff. 

"They will be more encouraged by this," he said, 
"than by any personal words of praise from me." 



The Man m the Glass 

when you get what you wont in your 
, struggle for self 

i And the world mokes you king for a day, 
\ Just go to a mirror and look at yourself, 
\ And see what that man has to say. 

I For it isn't your father or mother or wife 
I Who judgment upon you must pass, 
j The fellow whose verdict counts most In your life 
Is the one staring back from the glass. 

You may be like Jack Horner and chisel a plum 
And think you're a wonderful guy. 
But the man in the glass says you're only a bum 
If you can't look him straight in the eye. 

He's the fellow to please — never mind all the rest, 
For he's with you clear up to the end. 
And you've passed your most dangerous, 

difficult test 
If the man in the glass is your friend. 

You may fool the whole world down the 

pathway of years 
And get pots on the back as you pass. 
But your final reward will be heartaches and tears 
If you've cheated the man in the glass. 






Other members of the committee accompanying 
Damm were: Robert E. Dunville, president, Crosley 
Broadcasting Corp.; Robert D. Swezey, executive vice 
president and general manager, WDSU-TV, New 
Orleans, La. and Harold Hough, vice president and 
director, 'WBAP-TV, Fott 'Worth, Texas. 

The full group of owners and operators of the tele- 
vision stations affiliated with NBC witnessed a demon- 
stration of the RCA compatible color television system 
at the David Sarnoff Research Center in Princeton, N.J. 
NBC's plans for television program and sales develop- 
ment, including an expansion in morning programming 
and procedures for beginning color television broad- 
casting when compatible standards are authorized by the 
Federal Communications Commission, were presented to 
them by the top network officials. An informal address 
by General Sarnoff highlighted the meeting. At the 
completion of General Sarnoff's talk he received a stand- 
ing ovation. 

Before adjournment, 16 affiliates signed supplements 
to their NBC contracts enabling them to carry NBC 
color programs in their local communities when such 
service begins. 



20 RADIO AGE 



Electronic "Detective'' Spots Metal Pieces 
in Ores and Rocks 



cJtrav pieces of metal that find their way onto the 
conveyors that carry rocks and ores from one operation 
to another at quarries and mines are a menace to the 
crushing machinery of those industrial plants. To spot 
these foreign substances, a new electronic metal detector 
has been developed by the Industrial Equipment Section 
of the RCA Victor Division. One of the earliest installa- 
tions is now in operation at the Kingston Trap Rock 
Company in Kingston, N. J. 

The detecting device is erected along the route of 
the conveyor belt between the point where huge chunks 
of the rock are given their first crushing and where they 
are re-crushed to the desired size. The detecting me- 
chanism is enclosed in a water-proof frame which can be 
adjusted in size to accommodate the passage of conveyors 
of the capacities usually encountered in mining opera- 
tions. 

When in position and connected to a standard power 
source, the detector is influenced by the presence of any 
metal — magnetic or non-magnetic — passing through it. 
Small harmless pieces of metal do not affect the mechan- 
ism. But when the presence of "tramp" metal of danger- 
ous size is detected, the metal detector automatically 
actuates a warning signal and shuts down the conveyor 
line until the potential trouble-maker has been removed. 

The RCA metal deteaor will perform with conveyor 
speeds up to 600 feet a minute. 

Right: Electronic metal detector straddles conveyor car- 
rying rocks from one crushing operation to the next. 
When metal pieces of dangerous size pass under detec- 
tor, control (in circle) halts conveyor and sounds alarm. 




Workman displays some of the pieces of "tramp" metal 

v/hich, if not spotted by RCA's metal detector, might 

have damaged rock crushing machinery. 




Hojv Crystals of Quartz 
Are Fashioned into 
Electronic Controls 



-LIVERY year, from the mountains and river beds of 
Brazil, shipments of natural crystalUne quartz find their 
way to the United States where they are shaped and 
dimensioned to act as sentinels of all communications 
stations — radio, television, amateur, transatlantic and 
others. Without these crystals, the air would soon be- 
come a bedlam, for these thin wafers of quartz have a 
peculiar property of holding transmitting stations on 
their allotted frequencies. How the amazing wafers 
are fabricated from hexagonal prisms of quartz is told 
m the accompanying pictures, photographed in the 
Crystal Engineering Section of RCA Victor Division, 
Camden, N. J. 



1 — Specimen of Brazilian quartz from which come the 
crystal wafers that are used in the operation of millions 
of radio transmitters and receivers. 

iTf:,-^' )^°'^''^^"' Manager, Crystal Engineering, 

KLA Victor Division, operating an X-ray machine which 

determines the angle at which the quartz specimen 

should be sliced. 

3— Here the sections of mother quartz are cemented on 

glass plates for precision orientation during the later 

sawing operation. 

4— The correct sawing angle of the crystal, as deter- 
mined by X-ray analysis, is assured by orientating the 
specimen on this machine. 

5—The next step is to place the gloss-mounted crystal 

under a diamond edged saw. The saw table is tilted to 

slice the quartz along the desired plane. 

6— Wafers are diced into segments by a smaller dia- 
mond edged wheel. 

7, 8— After grinding a stack of segments to the proper 
diameter (see 8) they are brought to the desired thick- 
ness by a method called "lapping." 

9— This precision gage will check the accuracy of the 
lapping process to one ten-thousandth of an inch Fi- 
nally the frequency response of each crystal is compared 
to known standards over a wide temperature range. 

22 RADIO AGE 






^W^/f 




1 


7\« ¥'^H 


K. xi^^^^HHT ~ 








.. 1 




1^ 


4^' 


!\ 


L ^ ^ Si 


%m^.j 


rrl^ 


m^m^ 




' "^ww 


m^^^M 


^:ps^ 




J 


.. ^!s;'^^a.^ 


V'^^^^RI 


m^A 


^ 


I«K=S 


Mii^^^B 



Brig. General David Sornoff, RCA Board Chairman, talks with stockholders after annual meeting of 
I, , , Corporation in New York on May 5. 



RCA Set New Sales Record m First Quarter 
of Year, Stockholders are Told 

Chairman of the Board at Annual Meeting Reveals Gain of 31 Per Cent 
in Net Earnings Compared to Same 1952 Period 



O, 



PERATIONS of the Radio Corporation of America 
for the first three montfis of 1953 resulted in the largest 
volume of business for any first quarter period in the 
history of the Corporation, Brig. General David SarnofT, 
Chairman of the Board of RCA, announced May 5 at 
the 34th Annual Meeting of RCA Stockholders in a 
studio of the National Broadcasting Company in Radio 
City, New York. 

General Sarnoflf said first-quarter sales of RCA 
products and services amounted to $208,007,533. Profits, 
before Federal income taxes, amounted to $20,456,141. 
After providing $11,163,000 for these taxes, net earn- 
ings for the first quarter were $9,293,141, an increase of 
31% over the same quarter last year. 

After providing for preferred dividends, earnings per 
common share for the first quarter of 1953 were 61 



cents, compared with 45 cents per share for the first 
quarter of 1952. 

"This excellent record for the first quarter of this 
year," said General SarnofI, "resulted from increased 
sales of television receivers and transmitters and govern- 
ment equipment, as well as the new business of home 
appliances, which the Corporation has added to its line 
of merchandise." 

Government Orders 

Of the total volume of business done by RCA in the 
first quarter of 1953, sales and services to the Govern- 
ment amounted to $37 million, or approximately 18%, 
compared with 13% of the first-quarter total volume 
last year. General Sarnofif reported, adding: 



24 RADIO AGE 



"The present backlog of our Government business 
exceeds last year's shipments. Our billings to the Gov- 
ernment this year are expected to exceed last year's 
billings by a substantial amount." 

Significant Developments 

Other significant developments reported by General 
SamofF: 

(1) Television, which represents the largest seg- 
ment of RCA business, has continued expansion at a 
rapid pace. Demand for TV transmitters and studio 
equipment has increased, and the opening of each new 
station broadens the market for receivers. It is esti- 
mated that by mid- 1956, television sets in American 
homes will total 38 million. 

(2) Investment by RCA of $20 million in the 
development of color television has been justified by 
general acceptance of the RCA concept of an all- 
electronic, compatible system. RCA is ready to pro- 
ceed with plans for commercial color television as soon 
as the Federal Communications Commission author- 
izes standards. 

( 3 ) New electronic products in the offing include 
a compact, push-button sound tape recorder and a tape 
recorder for television programs; the latter may revo- 
lutionize the television art and extend into the motion 
picture industry. Among other electronic develop- 
ments are transistors, closed-circuit TV systems for 
industry, education and the home, microwave com- 
munications systems, and improved high fidelity record 
reproducing equipment. 

(4) Introduction of a line of RCA room air- 
conditioners and room dehumidifiers in 1952 received 
acceptance that made it possible to sell all available 
models. Production is being expanded to meet 1953 
demands. 

( 5 ) A new line of gas and electric ranges under 
the brand name of "RCA Estate" was introduced in 
January, 1953, with gratifying consumer response. 

The Future 

In looking to the future. General SarnofI expressed 
the fervent hope that an end of hostilities in Korea may 
open the road to a new era of peace and prosperity. 
But he warned that "there is no call for illusions on this 
score." 

"As long as one-third of the human race remains 
under totalitarian Soviet rule, the other two-thirds must 
remain alert and vigilant," he declared. "Only genuine 
strength, military and economic, can shield the free world 
against new aggressions. In these conditions, 'peace' will 



long continue to be a relative concept, hemmed in by 
political pressures. 

"Even such a limited peace, however, should stimu- 
late progress by releasing more of our country's talents 
and energies for the tasks of raising living standards. 
Ours is still a young nation, dynamic in its potential for 
growth. Economic maturity is a long way off. " 

General Sarnoff declared that the economy of this 
great country is not dependent upon war. He pointed 
out that the most vital and enduring economic expansion 
in American history has taken place in periods of peace. 

"While our operations in electronics and communica- 
tions are put into high gear during war or national 
emergency," he said, "we look forward to peace without 
misgivings. 'With the world at peace, our civilian econ- 
omy and our trade with foreign nations would be in- 
creased and our commercial business would grow. 

"In recent months, as Chairman of the Citizens Ad- 
visory Commission on Manpower Utilization in the 
Armed Services, and as a member of the Committee on 
Department of Defense Organization, I maintained that 
surplus fat can be taken off without injuring the muscles 
— in fact, the muscles are strengthened when the fat is 
removed. It is my firm belief that we must look forward 
to the production of wealth, not the production of waste. 
No economy can be sound or permanent that rests upon 
the violence of war instead of the security of peace. Peace 
is always more fundamentally profitable. The healthy 
growth of a nation and its industries, of its new enter- 
prises and technology is more certain in peace than it is 
in war. 

'"War does, of course, in some instances, give added 
urgency to invention and engineering, as well as expan- 
sion of manufacturing facilities. Under the pressure of 
emergency, scientific advances in certain fields are ac- 
celerated. Peace, however, provides fuller opportunity 
to apply all advances on a broad scale for industrial, agri- 
cultural, educational, medical and civilian use. 

"We need not develop robot planes and electronically 
controlled missiles only for purposes of destruction," he 
said. "There are many peacetime uses for such devices; 
for example, delivery of mail, packages and freight across 
world-wide distances. 

"Therefore, let us hope that the day is not far distant 
when the industrial facilities of America can return to 
the type of planning that is basic to our social and eco- 
nomic progress. 

"Meanwhile, in the light of present world conditions, 
we must continue to operate two great industrial pro- 
duction lines — one to maintain America's defensive 
strength, and the other to provide for the economic needs 
of the civilian population," said General Sarnoff. "Our 
manufacturing plants and communications facilities must 



RADIO AGE 25 



be 'at the ready' for all-out defense. RCA will continue 
its activities in scientific research and engineering, con- 
tributing all within its resources and facilities to help 
make America the strongest influence for peace and pros- 
perity throughout the world." 

Television 

Since the "freeze" on television station construction 
was lifted a year ago, television expansion has continued 
at a rapid rate, he asserted, declaring: 

"Demand for television transmitters and studio equip- 
ment has increased, and the opening of each new station 
broadens the market for receiving sets. Now, there are 
more than 23 million TY sets in the United States, an 
increase of 5 million since our meeting last year. TV 
stations now total 167 compared with 108 in May, 1952. 

"During the past year, 28 UHF (ultra-high-fre- 
quency) stations began operation, and the performance 
of RCA Victor equipment has adequately proved the 
quality of UHF reception. Our present television sets 
are designed for high quality performance of either UHF 
or VHF (very-high-frequency). UHF is a vital factor 
in expansion of the television market. 

"As television set owners, you are familiar with the 
phenomenal growth of broadcast television and how it 
has become an essential part of life in America. In addi- 
tion to the millions of TV-equipped homes, thousands 
of rooms in leading hotels throughout the country also 
have TV receivers." 

General Sarnoff called attention to television's ex- 
pansion in the fields of news and education and cited 




advances in its cultural aspects through production of 
noted dramas and operas by the National Broadcasting 
Company, of which he is Chairman of the Board. 

Reporting on progress that RCA has made in color 
television, he said that major improvements were made 
during the past year in the RCA compatible color system, 
the tri-color tube and in development of a tri-color 
camera mbe, which promises to take the place of the 
three color tubes now used in the camera. He declared 
that RCA's investment of more than $20 million in the 
development of color TV has been justified by general 
acceptance of RCA's concept of an all-electronic com- 
patible system. 

Radio Broadcasting 

Declaring that radio broadcasting is built upon a 
solid foundation for continuance of a vigorous national 
service that can coexist with television. General Sarnoff 
stared: 

"Today, there are more than 115 million radio sets 
in the United States. This total includes 25 million auto- 
mobile radios and millions of portable sets, all of which 
perform a service not reached by television. 

"Forty-five million families in the United States have 
radios. For them, radio can provide more programs of 
broad selective appeal. National advertisers can use radio 
to reach massive audiences at low cost just as they use 
certain magazines to have their message read by large 
groups in specialized fields. 

"In 1952, more than 10 million radio sets were pro- 
duced by the industry as a whole. The trend in radio is 
to smaller and more compact sets. New and attractively 
designed portables together with clock-radios have in- 
creased in popularity. The use of transistors will further 
enhance the development of novel radios, and extend 
their usefulness through the development of truly pocket- 
size sets and light-weight portables which consume such 
small amounts of battery power that their life of service 
will be greatly lengthened." 

Tape Recorders 

Many new electronic developments are in the offing. 
General Sarnoft reported. He said that an RCA sound 
tape recorder is being readied for sale and will be intro- 
duced within the next few months. It is push-button 
operated and weighs only 23 pounds. 

He stated that a television tape recorder under devel- 
opment at the RCA Laboratories in Princeton, N. J., may 
levo'utionize the television art and is expected to extend 
to the motion picture industry as well. It will, to a great 

Nearly 1,000 stockholders attend annual meeting in 
NBC's television studio 8-H, in Radio City. 



26 RADIO AGE 



extent, replace the use of film for television and thus 
reduce over-all costs. 

I mil/ St rial Television 

Only a fraction of the potential of industrial televi- 
sion has been tapped, he continued, asserting: 

"It challenges the imagination to envisage the many 
uses of television, including the closed-circuit systems 
for use in industry, schools, department stores, theatres, 
hotels, banks and other institutions. Indeed, industrial 
television may surpass the growth of broadcast television 
which we are now witnessing. The development of com- 
pact, lightweight equipment, using RCA's small vidicon 
camera tube, will help to overcome the obstacle of high 
cost." 

He said that the held of industrial electronics also 
has a great potential for expansion, and discussed the 
application of electronic devices and systems to business 
and industry through electronic computers, business ma- 
chines, inspection devices and household appliances. 

He declared that RCA is developing the potentialities 
in the field of solid-state electronics in which the transis- 
tor, a tiny device using a germanium crystal, is the master 
key to progress, just as the electron tube has been for 
almost 50 years. He said the transistor will greatly ex- 
tend the usefulness of electronics. 

Microwave Relays 

Another promising field discussed by General SarnofT 
was that of microwave and radio relays in which RCA 
has pioneered. He said RCA microwave systems have 
been installed by such diverse groups as oil and gas com- 
panies, utilities, city and state governments, and military 
organizations, as an effective means of modernizing com- 
munications. He reported that an RCA microwave sys- 
tem installed by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization 
in Europe had proved its effectiveness during the recent 
flood emergency in Holland. Shipment of similar equip- 
ment has been started for use in Formosa. 

Foreign Business 

In foreign markets, microwave and mobile radio, as 
well as television, are high on the list of RCA products 
in demand, said General Sarnoff, adding: 

"Many countries are modernizing their communica- 
tions by replacing wire lines with microwave and radio 
relay systems to aid their over-all economy. These coun- 
tries include Canada, Israel, Burma, Indonesia, Pakistan 
and others. 

"RCA has also sold a substantial number of television 
transmitters outside the United States, and more of these 
sales are in prospect in Asia, Latin America and Europe. 




Japanese actress performs before on RCA television 
camera in studio of NHK, operated in Tokyo by the 
Broadcasting Corporation of Japan, one of the foreign 
installations that "open new markets for home television 
receivers." 

These installations also open new markets for home tele- 
vision receivers. 

"To meet the requirements of new markets abroad, 
RCA manufacturing and distributing facilities are being 
expanded in other countries. Enlarged plant capacity is 
being provided in Canada and new factories in Spain, 
Italy and Greece will be operating in 1953. 

"At the end of 1952, the net assets in RCA's wholly- 
owned foreign subsidiaries located in seven countries 
totaled approximately S20 million based on exchange 
rates in use at the end of the year. This amount is less 
than 5 per cent of the Corporation's total assets. With 
this investment, RCA obtained a gross sales volume dur- 
ing 1952 of S44 million and net earnings, after taxes, 
of approximately $4 million. 

"Because of exchange restrictions and other factors, 
however, less than $300,000 of net earnings was trans- 
ferred last year to the parent Corporation in the form of 
dividends. Only this amount was included in the RCA 
consolidated statement of profits for 1952. The re- 
mainder of $3,700,000 was retained abroad and added 
to the working capital of our foreign subsidiary opera- 
tions." 



RADIO AGE 27 



Microwave Radio Becomes More 
Important to Industries 



M. 



-ANY American industries, faced these days with 
the necessity of doing something to meet their expanding 
communications requirements, have discovered a rela- 
tively new and magic tool with which to solve the prob- 
lem — microwave radio. 

In the opinion of one of the pioneers in this field. 
Dr. C. B. Jolliflfe, Vice President and Technical Director 
of the Radio Corporation of America, the fast-growing 
popularity of microwave radio stems from a combination 
of factors. 

"Most important," he said, "is the ability of this 
medium to provide multiple-channel communications 
over long distances with greater reliability and at lower 
cost than has yet been accomplished by any other means. 

"Practically invulnerable to storms, microwave radio 
circuits can carry such valuable services as television, 
teletype, telephone, facsimile, telemetering, traffic control 
information, and permit push-button supervisory control 
of unattended equipment at remote points. Industrial 
television can be incorporated to extend sight for pur- 
poses of vast importance to utility companies and other 
organizations having widely separated activities." 

Dr. Jolliffe said that since World War 11, when these 
tiny radio waves proved of immense value in military 
service, one major civilian enterprise after another has 
considered microwave radio for solution of its individual 
communications problem. 

Installations of microwave radio relay systems now 
have been completed in such widely diversified fields as 
electrical utility operations, oil pipeline control, railroad 
communications and signaling, telephone and telegraph 
systems and state highway patrol, as well as special mili- 
tary applications here and abroad. 

One of the microwave systems best known in Amer- 
ica is that operated by the American Telephone and 
Telegraph Company, providing for the coast-to-coast 
transmission of television programs. This system which 
is replacing or supplementing coaxial cables, consists of 
strategically placed radio relay towers, some 25 to 50 
miles apart, which "bounce" the signals from one to 
another across the country. 

Pioneering in the development of microwave relay 
systems was begun by RCA scientists and engineers 




This microwave antenna, located at a secluded opera- 
tions base in Western Europe, is one of the links in an 
RCA radio network linking Allied air installations with 
Central Europe headquarters of the U. S. Air Force. 

more than 25 years ago. This work has continued with- 
out interruption to open the way for the greatest possible 
use of the higher radio frequencies. Credit for much of 
the early work in harnessing microwaves for commercial 
use should go to Dr. H. H. Beverage, Vice President in 
Charge of Research and Development of RCA Com- 
munications, Inc.; and C. W. Hansel!, of the RCA 
Laboratories Division. 

In the electronics industry, it is generally accepted 
that radio frequencies of about 1,000 megacycles and 
higher are in the microwave region of the spectrum. 
Being of such short wave length (12 inches or less), 
microwaves exhibit many characteristics similar to those 
of light, such as defraction, reflection and refraction. 

These light-like characteristics become more and 
more pronounced in the higher and higher frequencies. 
Thus it is relatively simple to focus microwave signals 



28 RADIO AGE 



into narrow, powerful beams and project them over long 
distances. This is accomplished by the use of highly 
directive transmitting and receiving antennas which act 
like huge lenses on searchlights. High gain in signal 
power is effected at each relay station, making it possible 
to project information over a point-to-point relay system 
with very low initial power. 

Development of new types of electron tubes, new 
antennas, transmitters and receiving equipment all of 
vastly different design, compared with conventional ap- 
paratus of the past, has constituted the outstanding con- 
tribution of RCA to this promising form of communi- 
cations. 

A single RCA microwave circuit now available com- 
mercially, affords as many facilities as a 24-line channel 
wire system. These 24 channels may be used for voice 
communication or for numerous control purposes. Each 
of the 24 channels may be subdivided into as many as 
18 signal circuits which may be utilized for telemetering, 
remote operations, supervisory and load control, and 
each voice channel may be subdivided into at least 
eight teletype channels. 

By means of microwave radio any function that can 
be converted into an electrical impulse, such as pressure, 
temperature, and engine speed, among others, can be 
transmitted. Equipment in operation at unattended 
points of operations may be started, stopped and regu- 
lated by means of microwaves. 

Advantages of microwave radio are many. It func- 
tions reliably during all kinds of weather. Storms that 
tear down wire lines have little effect on microwave 
propagation. In wintery weather microwave has proved 
itself far less vulnerable to damage than wire lines be- 



cause, as Dr. Jolliffe pointed out, "ice can't form on a 
radio beam." Microwave radio performs reliably during 
excesses of temperature, dust and sand storms. 

Microwaves travel through the air, eliminating the 
need for pole lines, the necessity for land easements, and 
line maintenance. Rather than cutting a path through 
difficult terrain, it is only necessary to set up repeater 
stations at points indicated. Instead of purchasing a 
continuous right-of-way, it is only necessary to acquire 
repeater sites. Patrolling of the entire line is replaced by 
occasional visits to repeater sites. 

Both initial investment and maintenance costs are 
usually less than that required for a wire line system 
offering comparable facilities. Audio quality is at least 
equal to and usually better than that offered by wire lines. 

Outstanding performance has been accredited to 
microwave radio systems on two of America's super- 
highways. About a year ago, both the New Jersey and 
Pennsylvania Turnpike Commissions acquired RCA 
equipment to handle traffic control and facilitate police 
supervision of these important state thoroughfares. These 
systems carry voice and teletype messages over the entire 
length of each turnpike, providing instant contact be- 
tween cruising patrol cars and central terminals. 

A new chapter in communications for power com- 
panies opened this spring, when the Union Electric 
Company of Missouri began operation of an RCA micro- 
wave network providing the most dependable and flex- 
ible service in its experience. The installation is used to 
coordinate activities within the Union Electric system 
and neighboring utility communications. 

This microwave network carries voice messages 
throughout the system. It functions with mobile radio 



A portion of the 118-mile New Jersey Turnpike which is 

covered throughout its length by microwave radio systems 

developed by RCA. 



Employee of Sunray Oil Company checks information 
supplied him by microwave circuits extending through- 
out the company's pipe-line system. 



units, as well as handling telemetering and load control 
data. It is designed to handle 24 simultaneous voice 
conversations between any two points on the circuit. By 
clearing just one of the voice channels, as many as 18 
simultaneous telemetering or load control functions may 
be added. 

Within Missouri, antenna towers and relay stations 
have been constructed at seven points, varying from 11 
to 37.5 miles apart. Towers have also been erected at 
the Osage, Rivermines and Moberly terminal stations. 
The sign on top of the main office building at 12th and 
Locust Streets serves as the antenna tower for the St. 
Louis terminal. 

The towers, ranging in height from 100 to 250 feet, 
are located on high points of ground so that the natural 
curvature of the earth and other high intervening struc- 
tures, such as trees and building, will not impede the 
microwave "beam" which travels along a "line-of-sight" 
path. 

Towers Will Withstand 100-Mile Gales 

Despite their slender appearance, the towers are of 
rugged construction. They are designed to withstand a 
100-mile-an-hour wind under severe icing conditions. 
Also, the towers are rigid so they do not twist in a high 
wind. The accuracy required of microwave broadcasting 
is like the accuracy of an expert marksman since the 
6-foot parabola antenna must be hit dead center by a 
narrow radio beam 30 miles distant. 

In Missouri, the network covers about 262 miles. 
From St. Louis, there are three separate beams in oper- 
ation, all originating from the main office building. One 
leads to the Wood River Plant of the Illinois Power 
Company, connecting to its microwave system. The 
second leads to the Meramec Plant, now under construc- 
tion south of St. Louis. The third has three branches: 
the first to the Moberly substation, connecting with Mis- 
souri Power & Light Company's communications system; 
the second to the Osage hydroelectric plant; and the third 
to the Rivermines substation. 

Plans are being made to extend the microwave net- 
work from the Meramec Plant to the Joppa Steam Elec- 
tric Station, which Electric Energy, Inc., is building across 
the Ohio River from the Atomic Energy Commission's 
new plant at Paducah, Ky. This circuit, measuring about 
160 miles, will not only tie in the Joppa Plant, but will 
also interconnect with the Central Illinois Public Service 
Company microwave system. Central Illinois, in turn is 
tied into Illinois Power Company's communications and 
back to Union Electric through the Wood River circuit. 
Thus, there will be two microwave paths between the 
Union Electric and the Electric Energy installation. 



For maximum dependability under adverse condi- 
tions this microwave network has a system of alarm 
mechanisms, standby equipment and emergency pro- 
visions. A small, unattended building, erected at the 
foot of each tower, contains all of the electrical equip- 
ment, photoelectric cells for turning tower lights on and 
off, and completely automatic, self-starting, gasoline- 
driven motor generator sets to take over the load in 
event of power failure. 

With their gasoline supply in underground storage 
tanks adjoining the towers, the emergency generators 
are capable of running continuously for several days. 
When normal power returns, the emergency units auto- 
matically shut down. 

At the three main terminals, alarm panels equipped 
with blinker lights flash the location of trouble anywhere 
in the system and indicate the cause of the trouble — 
such as power failure, tower light failure, equipment 
failure, etc. The electronic equipment at all locations is 
supported by duplicate transmitters and receivers. In 
the event normal equipment fails, the standby unit 
automatically goes into service. 

Radio transmitters are installed at many of the 
microwave relay points and at the terminals. They have 
been so located to afford complete radio coverage on all 
major transmission lines linking Osage, Rivermines, 
Moberly and Joppa, also the local load areas around St. 
Louis, Osage, and Rivermines. 

These stations, operating in conjunction with the 
microwave net, enable the mobile units to remain in 
contact with personnel throughout the system. The net- 
work is so arranged that each terminal may use its local 
radio facilities without interfering with a distant termi- 
nal. When necessary, however, any terminal may take 
command of the entire system through the microwave 
ties in order to contact distant trouble cars. 

Service Unaffected by Elements 

Another important user of RCA microwave radio is 
the Central Arizona Light and Power Company which 
has been operating a system since 1949 for general com- 
munications, telemetering and remote control. Despite 
temperatures as high as 140 degrees, severe lightning 
storms, and unusual exposure to sand, dust and insects, 
the equipment provides excellent continuity of service. 

One microwave link of this system operates between 
the company's generating plant and a switching station, 
sixteen miles to the west. This link provides remote con- 
trol and indication on circuit breakers, remote metering 
of voltage, current, power, and two-way voice communi- 
cation. 



30 RADIO AGE 



RCA and NBC Petition FCC to Adopt Compatible 
Color TV Standards 



(Contin/u'd from page 7) 

compatible color television system has been developed 
technically, the next big step is to translate these scien- 
tific accomplishments into a regular color program 
service to the public. 

"In black-and-white," the petition states, "the vast 
amounts of money spent in television development by 
the RCA-NBC scientific and technical groups was fol- 
lowed by a vast amount of money spent by the company 
to develop programming techniques and skills, to find 
the proper use of showmanship in this new medium. 
Our plan to repeat this formula in color will cost addi- 
tional sums. 

"With this in mind, during the introductory year 
NBC will set up procedures to give technical and pro- 
gram people from our affiliated stations, and our owned 
and operated stations, experience in color broadcasting 
and color problems. 

"Under our plans, by the time the manufacturers 
have tooled up for mass distribution of color receivers, 
and a large audience watches our programming work, 
we will have learned the program technology just as our 
engineers have learned the proper use of their new tools. 
Meanwhile, the art of entertainment and the presenta- 
tion of reality, in color, will have progressed far." 



RCA-NBC Met Heavy Schedule of 
Color TV Tests During Past Year 

In the months prior to the filing of the petition, 
RCA and NBC met a heavy schedule of color television 
field tests and broadcast demonstrations. 

On April 14, members of the Committee on Inter- 
state and Foreign Commerce of the House of Repre- 
sentatives witnessed RCA color television on receivers 
at the David Sarnofl? Research Center, Princeton, N. J. 
A twenty-minute program, featuring a variety of enter- 
tainment, was broadcast over Channel 4 in New York 
City using experimental license KE2XJV. Three weeks 
earlier, RCA had told the Committee in Washington 
that RCA and NBC were ready to start color television 
broadcasting and recommended that the FCC immediately 
authorize commercial broadcasts of compatible color 
television signals. 



The demonstration for the House Committee also 
included outdoor pickup of color television pictures 
with the NBC mobile color television unit. RCA Labora- 
tories Division research men showed in operation ex- 
perimental models of an improved color television pro- 
jection receiver, a focus-mask tricolor receiving tube 
and a color camera that functions with one camera 
tube instead of the three in present-day equipment. 
The committee later inspected the Colonial Theater 
color television studio in New York. 

Similar demonstrations were held on April 16, for 
members of the NTSC; on May 19, for members of the 
FCC and staflF; on May 21, for RCA licensees, and on 
May 26, for NBC network affiliates. On June 22, the 
Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce of 
the U. S. Senate witnessed a color program originating 
in the Colonial Theater and beamed to Washington 
over microwave facilities. 

Sarnoff Receives Honorary Degrees 

Two honorary degrees were conferred during June 
upon Brig. General David Sarnoff, Board Chairman of 
RCA, by educational institutions in New Jersey and 
Pennsylvania. On June 2, he received an honorary 
degree of Doctor of Laws from Fairleigh Dickinson 
College, Rutherford, N. J., and on June 13, he was the 
recipient of the honorary degree of Doctor of Engi- 
neering from Drexel Institute of Technology at Phila- 
delphia. 

"Fifty years from now our descendants will say that 
we were very slow in 1953," he told the Fairleigh 
Dickinson graduating class. "Their automobiles, loco- 
motives and ships may be powered by atomic energy. 
Their systems of transportation will surpass in safety, 
speed and comfort anything we have today. Those who 
may wish to stay at home and see the world will be able 
to look around the globe by color television." 

In his commencement address at Drexel Institute, 
General Sarnoff declared that America's strength and 
leadership must be maintained as the great outpost of 
freedom. Until society finds the wisdom to abolish war 
there is no alternative, he said, but to keep America 
strong enough to resist aggression. "The surest way to 
discourage an attack upon us," he continued, "is to be 
adequately prepared to meet it successfully ... if it does 
come." 



RADIO AGE 31 




ational communications projects 
[■(/ hi/ RCA International Division. 



A modern industrial adventure ... in which a mountain is moved, 
cities are built, and distances are annihilated through radio communication. 



It's a mountain called "Cerro Bolivar." 
Separating it and its iron ore from 
Fairless Works in Morrisville, Pennsyl- 
vania, and other plants of United States 
Steel, are thousands of miles of open 
sea, jungle, grassy tablelands and rivers. 
The problems ... to provide engineer- 
ing, mining equipment, personnel, liv- 
ing quarters, transportation . . . and 
instant communication between all op- 
erational points. 

Today the mountain "talks." A city is 
rising where the Caroni River joins the 
great Orinoco. A 90-mile railroad is 
pushing up the tablelands to the mine. 
Roads are being btiilt. Dredges are 

World Leader in Radio 
First in Recorded Music 
First in Television 



deepening almost 200 miles of the Ori- 
noco to open sea to float specially de- 
signed ore ships. 

RCA radio knits the entire operation 
together through instant voice commu- 
nication between all executive and op- 
erating units. The mountain "talks" to 
the dredges, ore vessels, automotive 
vehicles and railway, the crews in their 
floating quarters, survey parties and 
water taxis ... a flexible system of con- 
tinuous 2-way radio. 

Co-ordination of high degree was 
required. Communications experts of 
RCA joined hands with Venezuelan 
officials; Orinoco Mining Companv, 



subsidiary of U. S. Steel; with Bechtel 
International; Morrison-Knudsen, Ga- 
hagan Overseas Construction Company 
and McWilliams Dredging Overseas 
Corporation, The Paul Godley Com- 
pany and other international engineer- 
ing firms. 

fiCA products and services arc avail- 
able in all world markets open to trade, 
through RCA distributors and associ- 
ated companies. The nciv book, "Com- 
munications, Ket/ to Progress" tells the 
inspiring story of radio at work in many 
countries. Sirnply write to RCA Inter- 
national Division, 30 Rockefeller Plazn, 
N.Y.. U.S.A. 




KCA INTtRNATIONAl DIVISION 

RADIO CORPORATION of AMERICA 

RCA BUILDING 

30 ROCKtniLCR PLAZA, NIW YORK, N.Y., U.S.A. 



"Ji^-^- 





On new super-highways, RCA microwa\ e and 
RCA mobile radio help control traffic flow, 
help police trap lawbreakers— just as conser- 
lation officials use it to catch poachers, or 
to warn against the danger of fire and flood. 




RCA microwave helps oil companies mo\e 
oil through pipelines, gives poicer companies 
better control of current, is used in mining, 
lumbering, and by the fishing industrj'. 



On towers 20 to 35 miles apart, "dishes" 
like this direct microwaves in a straight 
line — relay them at the speed of light. 

Out of this "dish" 
come service and safet y 

Like a pole line in tlie ski/, the RCA microwave system gives 
industn', business, transportation and police, a new, more efficient 
means of communication. 

Needing no wires, economical to install and maintain, RCA 
microwave is "weatherproof." Wind and rain almost never affect 
its performance while, obviously, ice won't form on a radio beam 
to put it out of action. 

Useful wherever man must communicate with man, or control 
industrial operations, the increased efficiency of microwave is 
another example of RCA leadership in research and engineering. 
Such leadership gives you better value in any product or service 
of RCA and RCA Victor. 

TV NETWORKS THAT SPAN THE CONTINENT ARE MADE 
POSSIBLE BY MICROWAVE RADIO RELAY STATIONS 





Radio Cohporation of America 

World leailer in rudiii — first in lele%'ision 




First liiiinc telt'\ision camera, RCA's "TV Eye," toiincrts t(i any 
T\' set — lets you watch children in the nursery or at play. 



RCA "TV Eye" gi\es schools a pri- 
vate TV network, takes talks and 
demonstrations to classrooms. 




Tireless TV Eye 

IVe^' HCA Tf camera an alert watchman fur home, school, indastiT 



In a railroad yard, RCA \idicon cam- 
era lets employees check car numbers 
at long range. 




RCA vidicon camera in a bank, lets 
tellers verify the signatures on checks 
by television. 



Based on the vidicon tube, devel- 
oped by RCA, a new instrument is 
on the way for homes, business, and 
schools -tiie RCA "TV Eye." 

Light, compact, easy to use, "TV 
Eye" is a camera unit which can be 
connected to standard home receivers 
—makes any of the 23 million TV sets 
now in use a potential closed-circuit 
television system. 

RCA's industrial version of the vid- 
icon camera has already proved its 
place as an observer and guardian in 
science, industry, transportation, 
business— with new uses still being ex- 
plored. Wherever distance or danger 
preclude a human obser\er's pres- 
ence, the vidicon camera can take his 
place and stand watch. 




"TV Eye" plugs easily into standard 
TV sets. You just switch to the selected 
channel, and see everything that the 
camera sees. 




Radio Coupon atioa of America 

World leader in radio — first in lelei'isiun 



RADIO AGE 

RESEARCH • MANUFACTURING • COMMUNICATIONS • BROADCASTING • TELEVISION 




OCTOBER 

1953 



>LOR TELEVISION 

dio Control Room 





m 



'jiflfta™^ , ; 



•^^^»^; 



'i K- 



■-f . 'sit' i-r 



*"*. 



W 





No speed limit ON THIS SKY HIGHWAY 

RCA Microwave Radio Relay offers fast, all-weather route 
for two-way communication and control 



For high-speed, multi-chEinnel communication — for 
communication that knows no weather problems— RCA 
now offers industry a new miracle in practical form — 
RCA Microwave Radio Relay. 

At any instant this new electronic development can 
handle up to 24 simultaneous messages — relaying a 
narrow UHF radio beam from tower to tower — over 
distances of several mUes to several thousand miles. 
Without the vulnerability of wire Unes — without the 
installation and maintenance problems of wire Lines — 
RCA Microwave carries telephone, teletype, and tele- 



graph messages, remote-control impulses, and meter 
readings at close to 100 </o continuity of service. 

Because "RCA Microwave stays in service when you 
need it most," it is fast becoming the top communica- 
tion tool of all types of right-of-way organizations. 
PipeUne companies, utiUties, turnpikes, and govern- 
ment agencies consider it the most dependable way to 
conduct business over long distances. 

Write for your copy of RCA's informative booklet, 
"Introduction to Microwave." 



RADiO CORRORATiON of AMERiCA 



EMGIMBERING PRODUCTS DERARTMBMT 



CAMOEM.M.J. 




VOLUME 12 NUMBER 4 



\RCH* MANUFACTURING 'COMf 
BROADCASTING 'TELEVISION 



OCTOBER 1953 




COVER 

Technicians in the control 
room at NBC's Colonial Thea- 
ter in New York study color 
television images as they ap- 
pear on RCA tricolor picture 
tubes. 



CONTENTS 



Poge 

A Tribute to Edward Julian Nolly 1859-1953 2 

SarnofF Sees Horizons of Service for Radio Being Widened by 

Developments in Science 3 

Middle West Press Views RCA Compatible Color TV 7 

Automobile Controls Itself by Electronics 8 

Industrial TV Turns Detective 10 

Microwave Relay to Carry Radiograms 11 

Electronic Memory Device Never Forgets 12 

by Joseph L. Blotner 

High-Fidelity Phonographs and Recording Techniques Developed 

by RCA 15 

Radio Frequencies Measured to Order 16 

You've Got to be a Diplomat 18 

by Robert Abernaihy 

Technical Details of Basic Color Receivers Mode Available to Com- 
peting Set Manufacturers 22 

Transistor-Operated Radio Receiver Runs 500 Hours on Flashlight Cells 25 

The Far East is his Beat 27 

In This New Field of Custom Recording Even Cows Are Made to Talk 29 
by James P. Davis 

RCA-NBC "Firsts" in Color Television 31 



NOTICE 



When requesting a chonge in mailing 
oddress please include the code letters 
and numbers which appear with the 
stencilled address on the envelope. 

Radio Age is published quarterly by 
Ihe Deportment of /nformaf.on, Rodio 



Corpo 



York 20, N y. 



•inlad in U.S.A. 




RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA 

RCA Building, New York 20, N.Y. 



DAVID SARNOFF, Chairmari of Ihe Board 
JOHN Q. CANNON, Secretary 



FRANK M. FOLSOM, President 
ERNEST B. GORIN, Treasurer 



Services of RCA ore; 
RCA Victor Division • RCA Service Company, Inc. • RCA International Division 
National Broadcasting Company, Inc. • Radiomorine Corporation of America 
RCA Communications, Inc. • RCA Laboratories Division • RCA Institutes, Inc. 
RCA Estate Appliance Corp. • RCA Victor Distributing Corp. 



E. 



/DWARD Julian Nally was 
born on the eleventh of April, 
1859, in Philadelphia. He came 
into the world, the son of 
Patrick and Mary (Cullen) 
Nally, at a time when Amer- 
icans were being challenged to 
pioneer on all fronts of science, 
industry, commerce, and com- 
munications. Railroads and the 
telegraph appealed to the imag- 
ination of many a boy, and 
Lldward Nally ventured forth 
on the new wire-line trails that 
were stringing westward across 
the country to spread the click 
of dots and dashes. 

His career in communications 
began with the Western Union 
Telegraph Company in St. 
Louis, Missouri, on September 
1, 1875, and from that day on 
messages and messengers were 
Edward J. Nally's great in- 
terest. As the copper wires of 
the telegraph were unreeled to 
parallel every mile of steel rails, 
so young Nally's duties in- 
creased and he continually per- 
severed, climbing the ladder of 
communications. He was with the Western Union 
until 1890 when he took a new position as Assistant 
General Superintendent, Western Division, of the 
Postal Telegraph-Cable Company, in Chicago. 

It was while he was with Postal, during the latter 
part of the 90's, that a young man named Marconi 
invented a new system of communication called 
"wireless." The majority of telegraphers scoffed it 
off as impractical; they said that even if invisible 
waves in the air could carry messages they were too 
ethereal to be dependable. Then, too, wireless lacked 
the privacy afforded by wires. Nevertheless, in 1901 
the new-fangled "wireless" spanned the Atlantic and 
was heralded as a threat to both cable and telegraph. 
But the majority of communications "experts" con- 
tinued to call it a fad and transoceanic "wireless" 
just a stunt — even if true! 

Bold would be a telegrapher who would forsake 
the wires for wireless; but in 1913 Edward Julian 
Nally did just that. He resigned from the telegraph 
field to become vice-president, general manager and 
director of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Com- 
pany of America. Mr. Nally had faith in the future 
of wireless. And when he had faith in anything, or 
anybody it was abiding. 

When, in 1919, the Marconi Company was ac- 
quired by the newly formed Radio Corporation of 
America for the purpose of giving the United States 
preeminence in communications independent of all 
foreign countries, Edward J. Nally was elected the 
first president and a director of RCA. 




Paralleling his vibrant inter- 
est in the communications busi- 
ness, Mr. Nally's humanitarian 
influences radiated afar. Great 
was his sentiment for history 
and old-timers — the veterans in 
telegraphy and wireless — for 
whom he always had an ever- 
lasting thought of kindness. 
His smile, the twinkle in his 
eyes, his Irish wit, his pat on 
the back brought encourage- 
ment to everyone who came in 
contact with him. Never did he 
lose the common touch. And he 
had a God-given gift of expres- 
sion through his pen, and his 
writings were often those of 
a poet. 

He loved his family and cher- 
ished his friends. If ever there 
was a day in his life that was 
the brightest of all, it was June 
10, 1897 when he and Lee War- 
ren Redd were married in Lex- 
ington, Ky. That was a day of 
blessing for them both, for they 
lived 56 years of happiness 
together and found great pride 
in their two children, Mary Lee 
and Edward Julian, Jr., and in the four grandchil- 
dren. Happily he counted his great grandchildren, 
"Total to date, two girls and four boys!" 

"Mister Nally," as everyone addressed him, had 
undisputed claim to the title "grand old man of 
wireless," for he had reached 94! He was a symbol 
of his time; a genuine American with the interests 
of his country at heart. Always a scholar who avidly 
read everything he could get his hands on, from the 
classics to scientific papers. A man of God, devout 
in religion, he applied its precepts to his everyday 
life. 

Fatherly was his advice, and well it might be, 
for in the final quarter century of his life the 
younger men appeared to him as his "boys." To 
them he would say: "Son, don't be stampeded into 
making hasty decisions that require study and 
thought. Snap judgment is often dangerous. Never 
lose faith in yourself. Hope not too much, fear 
not at all." 

Always quick to appreciate progress, he was 
equally alert to applaud the triumphs of youth. Only 
a few hours before his book of life was closed on 
September 22, 1953, he penned his admiration of a 
new booklet on the phonograph art : "Verily, it is 
the record of records!" 

So too his epitaph, "Verily a record of records." 
For the name "Edward Julian Nally" will endure 
in the hearts of men in characters of living light 
kindled by kindly words and friendly deeds that live 
in memory beyond the reach of Time. 



Sarnoff Sees Horizons of Service for Radio 
Being Widened by New Developments in Science 



A 



. NEW era of progress for the National Broadcasting 
Company's radio network was opened on September 17 
in Chicago when network officials met with representa- 
tives of affiliated stations for a full scale review of new 
radio program development and sales plans. 

The broadcasters, meeting at the Drake Hotel, were 
given a glimpse of new horizons for radio by Brig. Gen- 
eral David Sarnoff, Chairman of the Boards of Radio 
Corporation of America and the National Broadcasting 
Company, who spoke of present developments in the 
RCA Laboratories that will lead to the manufacture and 
use of tiny personal pocket and wrist radios. Such tech- 
nical developments as these miniature sets, he predicted, 
wOl create new radio audiences for the future. He out- 
lined NBC's goals of leadership in radio and its plans 
for utilizing new opportunities offered by evolutionary 
changes within the industry. 

Frank M. Folsom, president of RCA, and other RCA- 
NBC officials attended the company's first meeting with 
the newly organized NBC Radio Affiliates Committee. 

General Sarnoff was presented to the group by Robert 
D. Swezey, executive vice-president and general manager 
of WDSU, New Orleans, La., and Chairman of the Affili- 
ates Committee. 

"Besides creating new program approaches to meet 
changing listening habits, we can also develop new audi- 
ences through scientific progress," said General Sarnoflf. 
"For example, tiny radio sets — no bigger than a wallet, 
and ultimately a wristwatch — would advance the use of 
personal radios, and thereby greatly enlarge the total 
radio audience. 

"Such miniature radio sets are not a fantasy. At our 
laboratories we are working on the use of transistors as 
one of the applications of electronics-in-solids. The pro- 
totype of the tiny personal radio is already in existence. 
The miniature radio will reach out to bring radio to 
everyone everywhere, opening up new types of personal 
entertainment and information services. Pocket and 
wrist radio sets will become standard equipment for 
millions of people. Far from being a victim, radio is a 
beneficiary of science and technical progress. 

"I for one will not cast a vote of 'no confidence' in 
the future of radio," said General Sarnoff. "I am con- 
vinced that there is and that there will continue to be a 
large audience and substantial advertising revenue for a 
national radio service. This does not mean that the field 



is unlimited, or that everyone in it is sure to survive. 1 
believe, however, that the field will remain large enough 
to support those networks which possess basic strength, 
a true sense of their obligations to the public, and a 
capacity to adapt themselves to the new facts of life." 

"1 do not see the picture in radio as one of unre- 
lieved gloom. Neither do I look upon it with the 
bubbling optimism that has characterized some public 
statements on the subject — as if resolute cheerfulness 
would solve all problems. Instead, I recognize that basic 
changes have taken place and are continuing to take 
place, and that they disturb the old patterns of this 
medium. Those changes have created new problems for 
radio, some of them real with menace, others exaggerated 
by unjustified jitters. 

"But these new problems also point to new directions 
that radio must follow. If these directions are opened up 
without too much delay and are developed boldly, radio 
stations can continue to operate at a substantial profit, 
and a profitable network operation is also possible." 

General Sarnoff pointed out that the number of radio 
sets in use is constantly increasing and radio listening is 
more widely dispersed throughout the home and outside 
the home. He called attention to the fact that in the first 
34 weeks of 1953 more than 8,488,000 radio sets were 
sold in the United States, as compared with 6,519,000 
during the same period in 1952 — an increase of almost 
two million radios in the past year. 

"For the past several years," he said, "more and more 
radio sets have been bought. They are going into bed- 
rooms, kitchens, playrooms and bathrooms. They take 
the form of automobile radios and portable sets. Family 
listening is giving way to individual listening. 

"In the first half of this year, the output of automo- 
bile sets almost equalled the full year's production of 
automobile radios in 1952. Sales of clock-radios are now 
higher than they were last year, and since 1947 almost 
half of all the radio sets sold were automobile sets, porta- 
bles and clock-radios." 

In calling attention to this vast new audience for 
radio, General Sarnoflf decried the emphasis on program 
ratings, pointing out that the rating system leaves out of 
reckoning over 5,000,000 homes with three sets or more. 
It ignores listening to 5,000,000 sets in public places, 
millions of portable sets and more than 26,000,000 auto- 
mobile sets. "In short," he said, "radio is judged on rat- 



RADIO AGE 3 



ings that have lost touch with the reahties of the me- 
dium." 

Ratings not only fail to measure the true size of the 
radio audiences, General Sarnoff said, but they do not 
even undertake to indicate the quality and influence of 
the medium, and concentration on this limited quantita- 
tive standard has led to a failure to recognize radio's 
real values. 

As examples of evils resulting from this situation, 
General Sarnoff cited the "nostalgic" tendency to devalue 
radio by comparing the size of its audience today with 
what it was in the past, instead of comparing radio with 
other media available today, in terms of their relative 
cost and effectiveness. He also called attention to the 
preoccupation with top-rated programs and the failure 
to give adequate recognition to the composition and in- 
fluence of audiences to particular programs. 

"Ratings, today, simply do not reflect the real audi- 
ence," he continued. "They are certainly not conclusive 
on the essence of the matter, which is the ratio between 
listening and sales. We have found cases where compet- 
ing advertisers were getting about the same ratings, but 
where one of the programs produced many more custom- 
ers than the other. And we have also found cases where 



competing advertisers were getting about the same sales 
effectiveness from their programs, although one had a 
much lower rating than the other!" 

As evidence of NBC's real leadership of the industry 
General Sarnoff referred to its establishment of the first 
radio network, creation of great public service programs, 
development of black-and-white television, pioneering in 
UHF and developing and fighting for the adoption of 
compatible color television, all with earnest support from 
the RCA. Such achievements in leadership are practical 
evidence of NBC's basic strength and adaptability which 
will enable it to realize the potentials of radio's future. 
With the cooperation of its affiliates, NBC will lead the 
way with new paths for further development of network 
radio, offering a wider diversity of programs and ad- 
vertising opportunities, he said. 

The importance of maintaining strong and solvent 
radio networks was stressed by General Sarnoff. Apart 
from their direct values to affiliated stations and the pub- 
lic stature they give broadcasting as a whole, the national 
network services are essential to the maintenance of 
democracy and security, he pointed out. 

"Local services are important to the community," 
continued General Sarnoff. "But does anyone think that 



FOUR OF THE MANY STAR-STUDDED PROGRAMS THAT \\ 





Lawrence Tibbett 

in "The Golden Voices" 

Sundays at 3:30 p.m. EST. 



Fibber McGee and Molly 

Mondays through Fridays 

10:00 p.m. EST 



4 RADIO AGE 



radio could have become such a basic part of American 
life if it had been restricted to these local services? Does 
anyone believe that broadcasting would retain its stature 
with the public if network services were not maintained? 

"It was easy access to nationally known performers, 
to great orchestras and great drama, to the products of 
nationwide and worldwide news organizations — in sum, 
to the network offerings — that made broadcasting in- 
dispensable to people throughout our land. Americans 
became dependent on broadcasting because network 
services brought them instantly the great events and 
issues and personalities of the day and the hour. 

"Our national democracy is geared to immediate and 
direct availability of a national audience," he said. "This 
is dramatically obvious in a Presidential election cam- 
paign and in wartime, but it holds true at all times. One 
of the central problems in this age of peril is that of con- 
tinuous contact between our citizenry and its Govern- 
ment. Only broadcasting can alert the entire nation 
instantaneously and simultaneously in time of danger. 
Subtract the nationwide network system, and these all- 
important factors for democracy and security are lost. 

"Under the circumstances, would Government have 
any alternative but to step in and provide its own national 



service? If free enterprise should fail in this aspect of 
broadcasting, it will be endangered in all other aspects. 
Let there be no illusions on that score. The very existence 
of the industry on a competitive free-enterprise basis 
would be jeopardized. 

"And let us reflect also on the role networks play in 
the economics of all station operations. Because one in- 
dependent station in a community is thriving on 'music 
and news', some folks assume that all stations could do 
likewise. They forget that such a station siphons off the 
major portion of a highly specialized audience. In most 
communities, such a specialized audience is not large 
enough to support more than one or two radio stations. 

"Strong and solvent networks," General Sarnoff de- 
clared, "are essential to healthy station operation. As in 
any industry in time of transition, we can look for the 
survival of the fittest. But in an industry like ours, which 
rests on 'public interest, convenience, and necessity', the 
tests of fitness are highly exacting. They certainly do not 
include policies of expediency, flash performance, talent 
piracy, or the kind of practices which focus on today and 
ignore tomorrow. The real tests of fitness of a radio net- 
work's capacity for leadership are its far-sighted concern 
for the well-being of the industry as a whole, its deep 



CHLICHT NBC'S NEW FALL SERIES OF RADIO FEATURES 




Senator Ford 

in "Can You Top This?" 

Mondays through Fridays 

10:15 p.m. EST. 



Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy 

in "The Marriage" 

Sundays at 7:30 p.m. EST. 




RADIO AGE 5 



Statement on Behalf of NBC Radio Affiliates 


Ww„e 


unanimous m our enthusiastic reception ot the overall pUns .iiid proposals presented to us today by the NBC executives for the 


revltalizatior 


of the NBC Radio Network and the strengthening ot the medium. 


Ihc NBC 


radio affiliates endorse the new program concepts which show originality and basic soundness and which, coupled with the promotional 


supports an 


[ fresh, aggressive sales approaches which were outlmed to us, give excellent promise of success. 


Ihis effor 


on the part of NBC is to our minds the most significant and constructive forward step which has been taken in the network 


broadcasting 


business m many years. 


We were 


most favorably impressed with General Sarnotf's frank and cogent analysis ot the present radio broadcasting picture and his penetrating 


MCVVS With r 


espect to the future of radio. 


I, sour 


ntention to continue the NBC Radio Affiliates Committee as a permanent organization with the present subcommittee continuing to 


fnn«,on as 


an active liaison between the full committee and the network representatives. 


Ifsottrs 


ncere belief that today's meeting constitutes an important milestone in the history of the NBC Radio Network. 


We are 


confident that the approach taken in that meeting will aid materially in insuring the continuing effectiveness of the network as a 


vitd public 


service and advertising facility. 


Ihe NBC 


radio affiliates have today pledged themselves to make every rea.-^onable cooperative eff^ort with the network officials to keep NBC in 


the number 


one position in American radio. 




For the NBC Radio Affiliates Committee: 




C^^o.>T^:S--^^ ^>^.L.W.:C^ C^^^SLx.^ f ^..^^:^^^ .^ 




&yo^^ (Ly^ ^(^lu.;^z^G^ W^lkiMu ^^MflAI. 




(J Scplcmbcr 17, 19s i 1 
Chicogo, Illfnms 



NBC's Radio Affiliates issued this statement following outlines of the network's new programming plans by General 

Sarnoff and other NBC executives. 



roots in the field of public service, and its record for fair 
play in relation both to its associates and the industry at 
large. 

"Those who have built for the future, who have laid 
a program and sales base of permanent value, will have 
the staying power. Those who operate for temporary 
expediency, no matter how flamboyantly, will be con- 
quered by problems for which further expediency will 
hold no solutions. 

"I underscore these points because it seems to me 
desirable at the present crossroads of our industry's his- 
tory to underline the difference between a responsible 
leadership that builds permanent values for itself, its 
associates and the entire industry, and a claimed leader- 



ship that rests on opportunism and concentrates on the 
short-term private gain, regardless of consequences to 
the future of the business. 

"Broadcasting is not a finished art or industry and it 
will never be static," concluded General Sarnoff. "Nor is 
the promise of the future limited to television. It extends 
to all applications of the electronics art, and it certainly 
extends to radio. The transistor development is only one 
of the possibilities for radio. Scientific invention can also 
be matched by imagination and creation in program- 
ming, in selling, in operating more economically, and in 
finding ways for networks and affiliates to progress on a 
basis that will be profitable and satisfactory to both." 

NBC, General Sarnoff told the affiliates, is in business 



6 RAD/O kGE 



for the long range opportunities, concerned with creating 
permanent values for its employees, for its affiliates, for 
the RCA, and for the nation. 

Prior to General Sarnoff's address William H. Fine- 
shriber, Jr., vice president in charge of the NBC radio 
network, said that NBC's new and separate radio or- 
ganization is going forward with imagination and 
intelligence in revitalizing the network's radio program 
structure and meeting present-day needs of advertisers. 

Fineshriber pointed out that the NBC radio network 
now offers a great variety of fresh, new half-hour pro- 
grams for advertisers who buy on that basis, a number 
of new program forms which can be bought in small 
units by smaller advertisers, and a variety of shared 
sponsorship opportunities for advertisers who want to 
spread their radio advertising over different periods or 
supplement their other network operations. 

Shared participation sponsorships wiU be available 
in a strip pattern, 15 minutes, five days a week or in 
two solid hours of daytime programs on Saturday and 
Sunday. The strip programs will be "Fibber McGee and 
Molly", 10 to 10:15 PM, "It Pays to be Married", 5:45-6 
PM, and "Second Chance", 11:45-12 PM — all Monday 
through Friday. Advertisers will be asked to buy a 
minimum of three participations, each consisting of one 
commercial announcement, but they can distribute these 
commercial messages in any of the programs. A similar 
participation format has been established for "The Big 
Preview", Saturdays, 11 AM to 1:00 PM, beginning 
October 3 and highlighting all the new record releases 
of the week, and "Week-End", Sundays 2:00 to 4:00 
PM, radio's new Sunday newspaper beginning October 4. 

"We are thinking ahead to our long range future in 
radio," Fineshriber said, "because we expect to be in 
radio for as long ahead as anyone can see. And we are 
building for leadership — the sort of leadership that is 
founded on a solid base and can weather any storm. 

"Radio provides certain services which no other 
medium can provide as well and it meets needs which 
no other medium can meet in the same way. If we 
build on these values, if we put network radio to work 
at the things it can do best, we will always hold enough 
audience to support a national service. And if we and 
our affiliates accommodate our network sales patterns to 
meet new advertising needs, we will build the revenue 
needed to keep the business solvent and to make it 
profitable for networks as well as for the stations. 

"With the new radio organization, the new pro- 
gramming and renewed concentration on our radio 
problems, we are ready to go. Our purpose is to win 
and to hold for NBC first position in public attention, 
in audience, in advertising values and in sales. We 
expect to prove by deeds — and not just by words — 
the continuing vitality of network radio. And the new 



values we are now building are not for short term 
demonstration purposes but for the permanent future." 

Ted Cott, operating vice-president of the radio net- 
work, announced the details of NBC's massive frontal 
attack in radio programming. The 28 new program 
series which begin the week of October 4 constitute the 
greatest single mass programming operation in the 
history of the industry, he pointed out, and demonstrate 
NBC's basic decision to meet today's programming 
needs with courage and imagination rather than by 
cautious, timid or tentative experimentation. 

Block or mood programming has given each night 
of the radio week on NBC a flavor and individual char- 
acter of its own, Cott explained. "Vertical mood pro- 
gramming of this kind in blocks means better and 
stronger audience reaction by engaging the attentions of 
the public who can settle down to mood rather than 
smorgasbord," he pointed out. Sunday night will feature 
drama; Monday, music; Tuesday, mystery and adventure; 
Wednesday, comedy; Thursday, comedy and audience 
participation; Friday, all comedy; Saturday, a "prestige" 
block from 6:30-8:00 PM and "hillbilly" programs after 
8:00 PM. 

Middle West Press Views 
RCA Compatible Color TV 

Compatible color television was viewed for the 
first time by the Middle West press when the National 
Broadcasting Company held a special showing of the 
RCA compatible color system in Chicago on Septem- 
ber 22. 

The program, a variety show, starring Nanette 
Fabray and the "Hit Parade" dancers, was viewed in the 
Drake Hotel over a closed circuit from NBC's Colonial 
Theatre in New York, world's first fully equipped studio 
for compatible color. It was not broadcast. 

The press demonstration followed private showings 
at the annual meeting of the Association of National 
Advertisers. 

The performance was viewed over developmental 
Radio Corporation of America color receivers, which 
have the same shape and dimensions as standard black- 
and-white console models. 

Compatibility of the system was demonstrated 
through black-and-white receivers placed beside the 
color sets. The black-and-white images resuting from 
the colorcast had high-definition quality. 

Sylvester L. Weaver, vice chairman of the NBC 
Board, in charge of TV network programs, and O. B. 
Hanson, vice president and chief engineer of NBC, 
were interviewed following the showing and related 
the network's preparations for colorcasting, and its 
plans for the future, contingent on FCC approval of 
standards. 



RADIO AGE 7 



An Automobile that Controls Itself 
by Electronics 




^N exploration of how electronics can be put to work 
to reduce highway disasters and to relieve drivers of 
tiresome tasks on modern superhighways has been in- 
itiated by Dr. V. K. Zworykin, pioneer television and 
electronic scientist of the Radio Corporation of America. 

Recent electronic advances, such as the tiny, power- 
thrifty transistor, indicate that electronic aids to many 
automobile driving problems are approaching the realm 
of practical application, according to Dr. Zworykin. 
Although the day of completely automatic control of 
automobiles is far off, Dr. Zworykin said, certain elec- 
tronic devices to assist drivers in such matters as bad 
weather steering and collision prevention are nearer at 
hand. 

To study the basic problems of automatic driving, 
Dr. Zworykin and assistants at the David Sarnofl Re- 
search Center of RCA, in Princeton, N. J., have equipped 
a model five-foot car with electronic equipment. This 
laboratory car, which is powered by a storage battery, 



the car is no longer centered over the wire and electronic 
equipment controlling the steering wheel immediately 
brings the car back "on course." 

To prevent a collision with an obstruction, simple 
transistor circuits associated with the guidance wire send 
out warning signals (of another frequency) whenever 
an obstruction passes or is stalled over them. These 
warning circuits, in effect, produce a "radio tail" at the 
rear of any sizable metal obstruction on the route. When 
equipment in the model car receives the warning signal, 
the brakes are automatically applied and the car comes 
to a halt. 

To simulate rwo lanes in the same direction, Dr. 
Zworykin has parallel guidance wires with a diagonal 
wire connecting them. When the model car senses the 
radio tail of an obstruction in the inner lane, its elec- 
tronic equipment shunts it along the diagonal into the 
outer lane so as to pass the obstruction. 

A system of warning circuits in the roadbed to pro- 
duce a "radio tail" when an automobile passes over 
would be quite impractical with electron tubes. Dr. 
Zworykin pointed out. Such circuits would be needed 
approximately every 20 feet and the electrical power to 
operate the tubes would be enormous, he said. But when 
transistors are available in large quantity at low cost, he 
said, such circuits become feasible because power con- 
sumption would be only one millionth of that required 
by rubes. 



1. Steer itself along a prescribed route. 

2. Stop itself when approaching a metal obstruc- 
tion. 

3. Turn out of its original lane into a second 
lane as if to pass another car moving at a 
slower speed. 

Model Car Guided by Wire 

In the laboratory set-up, the model car is guided by 
a wire which represents a cable that would be laid in 
the roadbed of a superhighway. The wire sets up a 
magnetic field of a certain frequency which is picked 
up by the two coils, one on each side of the car. If one 
coil receives more of the signal than the other it means 

8 RAD/O AGE 



Dr. V. K. Zworykin makes an adjustment on 
his electronically controlled model automobile. 




^ ^^^^^^^^^^^Mg_ 



In experiments with the model car, Dr. Zvvorykin 
has been assisted by L. E. Flory and W. S. Pike, RCA 
research engineers. 

Discussing the trend toward modern highways on 
which driving is becoming both simple and tiresome, 
Dr. Zworykin said that "the time has arrived for con- 
sideration of automatic driving techniques which may 
relieve the driver of his routine duties whenever his car 
enters an express highway system. 

"Even now," he said, "with power steering, control 
devices are used to guide the car in preference to direct 
steering. Similarly, with power braking, the driver sup- 
plies a control signal rather than the physical force 
required to slow or stop the car. The automatic head- 
light dimmer is another device to take over a routine 
function of the driver. 

"The number of such devices may be expected to 
increase and it is not too early to examine ultimate 
objectives of driving simplification. Long-range advance 
planning appears essential in this field in view of the 
large number of parties vitally concerned. Successful 
development depends on the cooperation of govern- 
mental authorities, the highway builder, the car manu- 
facturer and the safety engineer for the benefit of the 
individual driver and the public at large. 

Basic Requirements of Automatic System 

"The basic requirements of an automatic driving 
system harmonize with trends in modern highway con- 
struction," Dr. Zworykin continued. "The requirements 
are that the roads have at least two lanes in each direction 
and that crossings and left turns across traffic be elimi- 
nated by cloverleafs and similar systems. With these 
conditions satisfied, the stage is set for a gradual intro- 
duction of measures to reduce traffic risks and simplify 
driving procedures. 

"The changes should necessitate neither sudden 
abandonment of established driving habits nor whole- 
sale installation of new equipment on roads and vehicles. 
This means: (1) The driver must retain the freedom 
of choice of speed, within prescribed limits, and of 
choice of either manual or automatic control. ( 2 ) Auto- 
matic control systems must be restricted, initially at 
least, to high-speed long-distance road systems subject 
to special regulation, such as turnpikes and thruways. 
(3) Vehicles equipped with automatic driving devices 
must be able to benefit in mixed traffic, consisting of 
equipped and unequipped vehicles. 

"It is clear that car owners and purchasers will not 
bear the added cost of the control equipment unless it 
proves useful under current conditions, namely with the 
vast majority of cars under purely manual control. At 
the same time it would be both politically and economi- 




Plioto by Carvello for Collier's 
Electronically controlled model car receives a warning 
signal from the roadbed cable as it nears the leading 
car. Oscilloscope patterns at the right show the increas- 
ing strength of the signal at three positions of the 
rear vehicle. 

cally impractical to restrict traffic on high-speed road 
systems to equipped cars. 

"As a first step, equipment should be provided to 
enable the driver to keep his vehicle centered on the 
traffic lane under conditions of fog and poor visibility 
in general. This may be accomplished by a cable, buried 
in the concrete, carrying moderate-frequency alternating 
currents (of the order of 100 kilocycles) and a pair of 
magnetic pickups mounted on the car. The diflference 
in the signals derived from the two pickups may be used 
t. Continued on page 24) 



RADIO AGE 9 



Industrial TV Turns Detective 

Vidicon Camera Unit Spots Thieves at Work and Makes Possible 
Quick Recovery of Valuable Radio Equipment 




Technician inspects industrial TV camera hidden in air vent over warehouse loading 
platform to "spy" on thieves who robbed a West Coast RCA plant of radio tubes. At 
right: detectives watch screen which revealed culprits at work and led to their arrest. 



JLndustriAL television turned detective recently and 
solved a case by giving police an eye-witness view of 
thieves at work. 

The locale was a stockroom of an RCA television 
service branch in Hollywood. Inventories had disclosed 
that television equipment was being stolen on a sub- 
stantial scale — some $38,000 worth (covered by insur- 
ance) was missing on the initial check. 

Officials on the spot, recalling the success of RCA 
industrial television equipment in functioning as an 
"eye" in locations too dangerous or inconvenient for 
human observers, decided to try the device as an elec- 
tronic witness to the crime. Summoning the police, they 
concealed the camera unit among the rafters of the stock- 
room with the lens focused on the loading platform. The 
rest of the unit — the TV receiver and viewing screen — 
was placed in a second-floor room some distance away. 

Daily for two weeks, the TV "eye" was trained on 
the loading platform as police watched at the receiver. 
The camera recorded the routine activities at the platform 
— but it also recorded the suspicious actions of one clerk, 
who casually placed a number of boxes of TV tubes on 
the loading platform during the lunch hour on Tuesdays 
and Thursdays when few other people were around. At 
apparently pre-arranged intervals, a pick-up truck would 
back into the driveway, the boxes would be put aboard 
with the help of the suspect, and the truck would pull 



away — all before the gaze of the camera and the inter- 
ested watchers at the TV screen. 

Once the facts had been made clear by the TV unit, 
the trap was set. The police at the receiver waited until 
the truck took off with another load of tubes. As they 
moved in to arrest the clerk, a police car trailed the truck 
to its destination and seized the driver and two alleged 
confederates. 

The hero of this story is an industrial TV unit which 
already has been put to scores of uses — patrolling, guard- 
ing, transmitting fingerprints and signatures, checking 
numbers of freight cars, supervising operations of ma- 
chinery at a distance, riding rockets, and generally fitting 
itself handily into locations where direct view is required 
and the human eye cannot go. 

Its efficiency in these operations, and in its newly- 
acquired detective role, stems from the compactness of 
the camera and the fidelity with which it transmits what 
it sees. The RCA Vidicon tube, heart of the system, 
is only six inches long and an inch in diameter. The 
camera that is built around the tube is no larger than a 
l6-mm movie camera and is easy to handle. 

The unit is completed by a connecting cable and a 
compact control monitor with a ten-inch viewing screen. 
Other receivers can be attached to the monitor if re- 
quired, and the controls allow the camera focus to be 
controlled from the receiving end. 



10 RADIO AGE 



Nejv Microwave Relay 
to and from RCAs 

jL\. microwave control system capable of handling 
all signals between RCA's Central Radio Office in New 
York and the company's overseas transmitting and re- 
ceiving stations on Long Island is expected to go into 
operation within the next few months. This radio control 
system, operating on ultra-high frequencies, eventually 
will replace almost all wire lines presently linking the 
same points under lease from the New York Telephone 
Company. 

The map gives an indication of the path of the new 
system. Signals from the Central Office will go out from 
transmitters on the roof of the City Bank Farmers Trust 
Building in downtown Manhattan. At a point some 
distance out on Long Island, transmitting and receiving 
equipment, housed atop a tall antenna tower, will relay 
the signals to and from Riverhead and Rocky Point. This 
relay station is situated approximately half way between 
the two extremes of the system. 

Microwave relays are not new to RCA operations. 
As early as 1934, the company operated VHF channels 
between New York City and Philadelphia. 

To some extent this present system is unique. It 
operates in such a way that all signals are transmitted 
simultaneously over duplicate facilities to assure unin- 
terrupted service. By sub-dividing a radio channel the 
same signal can be transmitted on different frequencies 
over duplicate transmitters and receivers working inde- 
pendently of each other. Thus if the equipment on one 



to Carry Radiograms 
Long Island Stations 



channel should fail the signal will still get through. 

This duplication of facilities is important. Continu- 
ous public service twenty-four hours of every day and 
experience has shown that no single piece of equipment 
can withstand this constant strain. 

In designing this system RCA engineers placed re- 
liable public service above everything else. All equip- 
ment is designed to operate automatically and to signal 
at either end of the system in the event of emergencies 
such as power failure, high temperatures due to fire, etc. 
The automatic signalling will also warn of equipment 
failure, including even a black-out of the flashing beacon 
on top of the tower. 

The microwave equipment used in this system is the 
RCA Victor Type CW-20 consisting of 12 three- watt 
transmitters and 12 receivers. It operates on unusually 
short antenna elements. Compared to the average TV 
antenna, which is approximately 24-inches long, this 
system uses a three-inch antenna element backed up by 
parabolic reflectors measuring 4 to 10 feet in diameter. 

The system will operate in the 2000 megacycle band 
by authority of the Federal Communications Commis- 
sion. This part of the spectrum has been assigned for 
similar radio control system such as those in service 
along pipe line routes and along the New Jersey and 
Pennsylvania turnpikes. Signals operating in this fre- 
quency band are less subject to fading due to rain and 
(Continued on page 23) 





Left: RCA engineers Williamson and Sadler inspect one of the microwave 
parabolic antennas used in the Riverhead-to-New York relay system. 

RADIO AGE 11 



This electronic memory device 

NEVER FORGETS 



In a Few Millwnths of a Second it Accepts, 

Holds and Releases any Part of 10,000 

Units of Information 



By Joseph L. Blotner 

RCA Laboratories Division, 
Princeton, N. /• 



L 



the short time since World War II, the electronic 
computer has grown from infancy to a healthy adoles- 
cence. Its next step to full-fledged adulthood will be 
helped along by one of the research projects under way 
at the David Sarnoff Research Center of RCA at Prince- 
ton, N. J. 

The need during the war for fast, accurate fire con- 
trol equipment and radar networks pointed clearly to 
electronic tools as the solution. Targets sped too fast 
for the old mechanical fire directing computers, just as 
the acoustical air-raid warning system was unable to cope 
with the new tactics of air warfare. 

The computers which resulted from this war-spurred 
development took two basic forms called, respectively, 
the analog and the digital. In the analog system, voltage 
or current is varied to represent different quantities in 
the complicated equations to be solved. In the digital 
system, all the information is converted into numbers 
rather than varying voltage or current. The numbers 
are coded in terms of "on-off" signals. In the binary 
code, numbers take the form of a sum of powers of 
two. In the decimal code, numbers take the form of 
a sum of powers of ten. The code is chosen by balancing 
efficiency and versatility against practicality. 

With the end of the war, research recognized the 
great value of these instruments. They could relieve 
scientists of long, wearying computations. In some cases, 
they could be used as a sort of crystal ball, to find out 
whether or not equipment would work even before it 
was built. Progress in their development was rapid and 
a fairly standard computer design soon took shape. 

The Input, perhaps in the form of a teletypewriter 
and tape, puts information into the Memory. The Con- 
trol executes orders stored in the Memory. Next, the 
Control actuates the Arithmetic Unit to perform the cal- 




Minute size of the Myriabit elements is emphasized here 
by the cigaret which spans more than three groups of 
wires and cores comprising 300 units of information. 

culation, and then transfers the result to the Memory. 
Finally, the Control transfers the result to the Output. 

It was soon obvious that the range and value of the 
computer depended largely upon its memory. The 
memory could be made very large, but if it was, it took 
too long to get information into and out of it. If this 
access to the memory's information was speeded up, it 
meant a sacrifice in capacity. To evolve a large memory 
unit with speed of operation was the problem which Dr. 
Jan A. Rajchman and his colleagues at the Research 
Center set out to solve. 

It is possible to construct memories of various types. 
They can be tele-typewriter perforated paper tape, mod- 
ern magnetic tape, or a rotating magnetic drum. In all 
of these types, unwanted information, often a lot of it. 
has to be passed over to get to the desired information. 
To eliminate this delay, Rajchman and his group devel- 
oped a selective electrostatic storage tube which gave 
immediate access to any specific storage element without 
traversing many others. This was the first practical 
random access high speed memory. 



72 RADIO AGE 



The tube contains 256 tiny metal eyelets called stor- 
age elements. These elements are kept at a positive or 
negative potential to represent the information to be 
stored. The information is held prisoner in the eyelets 
by constant electron bombardment, which keeps the 
negatively charged eyelets negative. A mechanism de- 
pending upon secondary emission, keeps the positively 
charged eyelets positive. On one side of the eyelets are 
rows of parallel wires, one row vertical and the other 
horizontal. The wires thus form a window around each 
eyelet. The electron bombardment can be stopped at all 
but one selected window by applying negative signals 
to appropriate groups of wires. 

How Information is Inserted 

To put information into this element after it has 
thus been selected, an electrical signal is fed to all the 
eyelets. But only the selected eyelet is receiving current 
at that instant, hence it is the only one that can register 
the information. The current is then immediately re- 
stored to all the other elements so that they will retain 
the information they had. 

To read information out from a specific eyelet, it is 
again selected. If it is at a positive potential, some of 
the current directed to it will go through the tiny hole 
in its center and strike an output electrode, showing that 
the eyelet is positive. If the eyelet is at the negative 
potential, the electrons do not pass through the hole 
because the eyelet acts like the grid of a radio tube and 
effectively cuts off the current. This absence of current 
shows that the eyelet is negative. 

This 256-element tube was put into production and 



used successfully in several computers. Even so, Rajch- 
man and his group realized that it was only an inter- 
mediate step in the development of the ideal, high-speed 
electronic memory. The tube was limited in storing 
capacity and relatively expensive. 

Rajchman and his co-workers went on to develop the 
Myriabit Magnetic Core Matrix Memory. Myriabit is a 
descriptive term made up of the Greek word "Myria" 
meaning "ten thousand" and "bit" which means, in com- 
puter language, one unit of information. The heart of 
this advanced form of memory is two sets of a hundred 
wires each, one set running at right angles to the other. 
At every point where two wires meet, they run through 
the center of a magnetic core. The wires are spaced into 
groups of ten, so that the cores are separated into one 
hundred groups of a hundred each. 

The thin, tiny cores, about the size and shape of a 
typewritten letter "o", are made of a special ferromag- 
netic material. A current flowing through two of the 
wires will switch the polarity of the core at their inter- 
section. Whether the polarity is positive or negative 
depends upon the direction of the current. A core is 
affected onJy when it receives a signal from both wires 
running through it. Current in one wire is not enough. 
By establishing the core's polarity, the current fills it with 
as much information as it can take. 

Device Holds Information for Years 

Information is taken from the memory in much the 
same way. If the currents, when they reach the core, trip 
it from positive to negative, or vice versa, this change 
sends a signal through a wire running through all the 




Typical relation of basic units in the de- 
sign of a standard electronic computer 



Selective electrosfatic-type 

storage tube with capacity 

of 256 units. 




RADIO AGE 13 




Dr. Jan A. Rajchman holds one of his Myriabit Magnetic 

Core Matrix Memory units which is capable of retaining 

10,000 bits of information until needed. 

cores. If there is no reversal, there is no signal. But 
whichever happens, the contents of the core are thus 
known. If a reversal of polarity does take place in this 
process, associated circuits immediately return the core 
to its former state, so that no information is lost or 
changed. The cores never wear out, and they are able to 
hold the information for years. 

The Myriabit Memory represents a tremendous ad- 
vance over tubes and the other devices that went before 
it. The present capacity is 10,000 units of information 
but the prospect is for millions of units. Speed of input 
and access is a few millionths of a second. Its simplicity 
and economy of space are outstanding, particularly when 
compared to the relatively huge vacuum tubes. 

Some Possible Applications 

Impressive as the Myriabit Memory is by itself, it is 
most striking as a functional part of a working computer. 
The jobs a computer may be asked to do fall roughly 
into three types: scientific computation, bookkeeping, 
and control. 

In the first group are problems like this: A scientist 
wants to test a theory for gross weather prediction — 
weather for the whole United States, for instance. He 
goes to last week's weather maps and turns the data 
from each weather station into numbers. These numbers, 
representing readings on precipitation, pressure, tempera- 
ture, and wind direction and velocity, are fed into the 
computer's memory. The theory is turned into formulas 



and thence into arithmetical operations which are also 
put into the memory. The control unit is then pro- 
grammed to make the arithmetic unit process the weather 
data from the memory in accordance with the theory. 
After this is done, the control transfers the result to the 
memory and then to the output. The scientist takes 
the result and compares it with the weather that actually 
occurred to verify or disprove his theory. In this way, 
the electronic computer quickly and efficiently solves 
what would have been a tremendously complex problem 
for one man using ordinary computing methods. 

Computer Able to Solve Flight Problems 

The computer is equally able to attack problems of 
supersonic flight. A scientist in that field might be faced 
with this problem: What kind of turbulence should be 
expected at various sections of an experimental wing at 
varying speeds, altitudes, temperatures, and attitudes of 
flight? To get the answer, he puts all the variables into 
the memory, adds the known laws or theories that govern, 
and programs the control to solve the problem. The 
result may tell him that an aircraft with this wing will 
stay together and fly at supersonic speeds. On the other 
hand, it may tell him that it should go no farther than 
the drawing board. 

When the computer has a bookkeeping function, its 
job may be, for instance, computing gas and electric bills. 
The solutions to the previous problems depended heavily 
on the computer's manipulation function. In this case, 
it is the storage function which is more important; the 
arithmetic part is elementary. For each new bill to be 
correct, the computer is required to remember these facts: 
the previous meter reading, the current reading, the 
current rate being charged, the type of customer, the date 
of billing and whether or not the last bill was paid. 

A similar job for the computer exists in the insurance 
business. A computer would remember what the pre- 
mium rate was, when it was due, and whether or not the 
policy had been converted. It would authorize the send- 
ing of overdue warnings, and the payment of dividends 
and claims. 

A good example of the control function is in the 
making of nylon. Qualities desired in the final product 
— elasticity, wearability, washability, etc.- — are complex 
functions of how the ingredients and processes in the 
production are varied. Since mass production is a con- 
tinuous process, the production factors must be continu- 
ously related to the desired qualities. This process in- 
volves fairly complex computation, now performed by a 
staff of human operators. An automatic computer could 
be introduced here, almost as a straight substitute. 

Some problems combine the bookkeeping and control 
functions. Take, for instance, a large Army supply depot. 
(Contimied on page 24) 



14 RADIO AGE 



High-FMity Phonographs and Recording 

by RCA 



Techniques 




01 



H, 



-IGH fidelity sound reproduction, until recently the 
province of the music-loving hobbyist, made its debut 
as a new RCA development for the mass market in a 
public demonstration held on October 8 at the RCA 
Exhibition Hall in New York. 

Before an audience of reporters and music critics, 
officials of the RCA Victor Division and scientists of 
the David Sarnoff Research Center surveyed the progress 
of recording and phonograph development over the past 
fifty years and predicted a future in which high fidelity 
equipment will be a standard feature of the American 
home. 

Against this background was demonstrated the new 
high fidelity line of "Victrola" phonographs in the 
popular price field and the new RCA Victor series of 
intermatched components for home assembly of more 
elaborate high fidelity systems. The ready-made units, 
designed for the mass market, included a table model 
instrument priced at $139.95 and a console priced at 
$275 with a companion speaker at $89.50. The series 
of components, comprising various combinations of 
record players, tuners, amplifiers, speakers and enclosures, 
permits the assembly of systems costing up to $1,000. 

Henry G. Baker, Vice President in Charge of the 
RCA Victor Home Instrument Department, expressed 
the RCA conviction that public interest in high fidelity 
sound reproduction is far more than a passing fad. 

Demand May Triple Sales in '54 
"It gives every evidence of being a logical progres- 
sion in the development of more mature musical tastes 
by the American people," he told guests at the demon- 
stration. "And it coincides with the perfection of new 
sound reproduction equipment that makes it possible 
for the industry to provide the quality of home musical 
listening that the public wants and is ready for." 

Mr. Baker described the growing interest in high 
fidelity as both an opportunity and a challenge to the 
entire industry. Depending upon the willingness of 
the industry to respond to the challenge, public demand 
may boost this year's estimated sales of $70,000,000 
worth of high fidelity components to a total of between 
$200,000,000 and $300,000,000 in 1954, he said. 

George Marek, Director of Artists and Repertoire 
for the RCA Victor Record Department, credited public 
interest in high fidelity with "far-reaching" impact on 



repertoire and predicted that volume production of high 
fidelity records and phonographs will open new fields 
for classical music recording. The higher standards of 
musical enjoyment that can result from the expansion 
of high fidelity listening holds out the prospect that 
record sales may increase from the present $225,000,000 
annual volume to more than $300,000,000 within the 
next five years, he said. 

A Glimpse of the Future 

The steady progress of sound reproduction from the 
earliest type of phonograph portrayed in the RCA Victor 
trademark, to the new high fidelity home instruments 
was outlined to the guests by Dr. H. F. Olson, Director 
of the Acoustics Laboratory at the David Sarnoff Re- 
search Center. Dr. Olson is the designer of the famed 
duo-cone speaker, which is used for the first time as a 
home instrument in the largest of the new RCA high 
fidelity units. 

After referring to past development of faithful sound 
reproduction, in an effort to improve motion picture 
sound and radio broadcasting. Dr. Olson presented a 
glimpse of the future with the first public audition of 
a new recording and production system involving an 
improved variation of the binaural technique. The 
system achieves its dramatic and lifelike effect through 
dual sound-track recording and the use of double am- 
plifiers, sound pickups and loudspeakers for reproduc- 
tion. Although the system is not yet ready for the home, 
Mr. Baker pointed out that it indicates the great progress 
being made in the developmental stage. 

The demonstration also marked the first public play- 
ing of multiple-track recordings by any major record 
company, with a presentation of the experimental RCA 
Victor recording of the "Roumanian Rhapsody" per- 
formed by an orchestra under the direction of Leopold 
Stokowski. 

The high fidelity phonographs, which are being 
introduced through RCA dealers throughout the nation, 
are capable of handling records of all three speeds and 
are equipped with an interchangeable "slip-on" spindle 
for 45-rpm records. Both models contain Olson-designed 
speakers — an 8-inch in the table model and a 12-inch 
in the console — and both are capable of driving ex- 
ternal speakers. 



RADfO AGE 75 



Radio Frequencies Measured to Order 

Precise Instruments Developed by RCA jor its Measuring Laboratories on Both 
Coasts Instantly Detect Transniittcrs that Stray from then' Allotted Channels 



Mc 



Lore than a million radio stations of all kinds on 
land, sea, and in the air, have been authorized by the 
FCC. Each one of these stations is licensed to operate 
on one or more specific frequencies from which the 
operators may not deviate without facing severe penal- 
ties. If a station, as in broadcasting for instance, should 
stray a very small amount from its proper channel, its 
signals would clash with those on the adjoining channel. 
If this situation were allowed to exist generally, complete 
chaos would follow. The result could lead to a complete 
breakdown of the country's radio communications. 

RCA foresaw the need for strict policing of the air 
waves soon after the company was founded in 1919. At 
first the measuring service was conducted only for RCA's 
own transoceanic circuits, but in 1931 its highly precise 
monitoring service was made generally available on a 
commercial basis. Monitoring facilities were established 
at Point Reyes, California, and Riverhead, N. Y. 

The first users of the service were the broadcasters. 
With monitors operating on both coasts, service could 
be provided for any radio station in the country. Then, 
as additional types of radio usage were developed, 
facilities were expanded to cover the widening frequency 
spectrum. Today, RCA's Frequency Measuring Service 
can make measurement for transmitters within the range 
of 13 kilocycles to 500 megacycles. Included in this 
range are aircraft and police radio, maritime transmis- 
sions, FM and television broadcasters, to mention only 
a few. Measurements can be made for foreign stations 
as easily and as accurately as for domestic transmitters. 

Wide Variety of Antennas Required 
In order to render accurate measurements throughout 
all bands in the useful spectrum, a wide variety of an- 
tennas is required. These range from Beverage Wave 
Antennas, seven to nine miles long, serving the very- 
low-frequency classification, to small, directional ultra- 
high-frequency dipoles. 

Television and FM stations are currently measured 
by RCA at distances up to 500 miles, depending upon 
antenna heights, intervening terrain and transmitter 
power. With activity in this type of broadcasting in- 
creasing, every effort is being made to extend the service 
range by providing the maximum practical height of 
receiving antennas on both coasts, together with extreme 
sensitivity of the associated tuner units. 



On the remainder of the spectrum in use, however, 
RCA frequency measuring stations provide essentially 
worldwide coverage. 

The equipment at RCA's Frequency Measuring 
Laboratories has been designed for measuring operations 
of the highest attainable precision. In line with this ad- 
vance, modern crystal controlled equipment long ago 
supplanted the original temperature controlled wave- 
meters of the Twenties. 

After the signal to be checked has been selected from 
the air through proper antenna facilities, it is tuned in 
on a highly sensitive receiver. Provision is made for 
comparing the frequency being measured with the exact- 
ing frequencies of harmonic generators, which are con- 
trolled by the output of a 100 kilocycle primary standard. 
This primary standard is carefully regulated with respect 
to temperature, air pressure and humidity. To prevent 
possible service failure, two identical standards are main- 
tained, each completely housed in a separate container. 

Standards are Checked Daily with Observatory 

The standards are checked daily against time signals 
from the Naval Observatory, which maintain an accuracy 
of better than four parts in ten million. 

To the uninitiated, it might seem a formidable task 
to select a signal in a part of the spectrum where many 
stations are operating, sometimes on the same frequency, 
as in the upper portion of the broadcast band. Actually, 
this problem is not a difficult one. So selective are the 
instruments at the two Measuring Stations and so ef- 
fective are the special antennas that, normally, the signal 
to be tested can be easily singled out from all others. 
When this is not possible, arrangements are made for 
the station to transmit a constant tone after it has signed 
off programs for the night. The tone permits the engi- 
neers at Riverhead or Point Reyes to pin-point and check 
the station's frequency even though other broadcasters 
using approximately the same frequency, are still on the 
air. 

Considering these items of equipment, aided by the 
experience and skill of the laboratory personnel, RCA's 
Frequency Measuring stations can be described as being 
among the world's most completely equipped and ac- 
curate installations available for its types of commercial 
service. 



?6 RADIO AGE 




F. G. Echeverria operates one 
of the highly accurate receivers 
at the RCA Frequency Measur- 
ing Laboratory, Riverhead, N. Y. 



You've Got to be a Diplomat ^ 

To Film Washington News for NBC-TV 



By Robert Abernathy 

General Assignment Reporter, WNBW-TV 
National Broadcasting Co., 
Washington, D. C. 



o, 



NE of the touchiest jobs NBC's Washington Bu- 
reau has to do is to cover the news of the Capital on 
film. It's not enough for the cameramen and soundmen 
to know their trades technically — they've also got to 
be rare combinations of athlete, artist, and, most of all, 
diplomat. 

From time to time Washington gets its share of 
good spot news like train wrecks and moonshine raids 
and, once, an assassination attempt on President Truman. 
The film crews get their share of drama, too, like the 
time one of the cameramen was thrown twice into a 
Cuban jail. But most of the time the big news in Wash- 
ington is what somebody says or thinks — -statements, 
opinions, arguments. 

And this is where the diplomacy comes in. How do 
you tell the President he'd look a lot better if he'd comb 
his hair? How do you tell a United States Senator that 
the statement he's prepared is just plain too long, and 
he'd better cut it to one minute? How do you convince 
a wary new Cabinet member that he should explain his 
ideas for the cameras so the nation's TV audience can 
get to know him? 

Somehow, through excellent contacts and Old World 
tact, NBC's Washington camera crews get their stories. 
Usually, they get them as they want them, with hair 
combed and statements cut. 

Eight Years to Develop Techniques 
Bringing the personalities and ideas of Washington 
into millions of television homes, through film, is a 
technique NBC has been perfecting for over eight years. 
The Washington film crews shoot for the Camel News 
Caravan, TODAY, the syndicated Daily News Service, 
New York's 11th Hour News, and Washington's Richard 
Harkness. Brad Kress and John Langenegger cover the 
Capitol. Al Simonson and John Hofen cover the White 
House. Irving Heitzner takes the rest. 

Each morning in the NBC newsroom, Central News- 




Soundman John Langenegger and cameraman Brad 
Kress of NBC's Washington news staff prepare for a 
film pickup at the Capitol. Two-way radiophone keeps 
the truck in constant communication with the network 
newsroom. 

desk Manager Art Barriault and Camera Assignment 
Editor Bill Corrigan survey the stories that seem most 
important for the day and contact the crews. There's an 
important arrival at the National Airport, and Irving 
Heitzner is on his way to get 100 feet of silent footage. 
There's a hearing on the Hill that may get hot. Brad 
Kress and John Langenegger set up to record whatever 
happens. A key Washington figure visits the President. 
Simonson and Hofen are waiting for him when he 
comes out. 

As the day's Washington news breaks, it's up to 
Barriault and Corrigan to dispatch the crews so that the 
top stories are covered — without exception. Sometimes 
the crews have to make mad dashes across town to be 
on hand for the next news conference. But they make it. 
A big help in speedy coverage is the NBC station wagon, 
equipped with radio-telephone for contact at all times. 

Once the film is shot, it's picked up by NBC's motor- 



78 RAD\0 AGE 



cycle courier, Jim Curtis. He threads his way through 
Washington's crowded streets to the lab where the film 
is processed, or to the airport where it's shipped direct 
to New York. Always, Curtis has to move in a hurry. 
In 1949, Senator Tom Connolly announced at seven 
o'clock one evening that the first appropriation for 
Western Europe had just been passed to implement the 
North Atlantic Treaty. Brad Kress shot the statement 
and handed the film to Curtis. Jim ran for his motor- 
cycle and headed for the lab, three miles away. The film 
was processed and edited and handed to Jim again. This 
time he took it to the studios, five miles from the lab. 
The film was on Camel Caravan that night, fifty minutes 
after it had been shot. Such feats, incredible at the time, 
have become standard practice. 

David Brinkley supervises the editing of all Wash- 
ington film for the Camel program. After conferring 
with the Caravan staff in New York, Brinkley edits the 
day's top stories, writes a script to back them up, and 
goes on the air with the report at 7:45 (EST). Jean 
Montgomery helps Brinkley with the contact work nec- 
essary to set up the special features for which the Caravan 
is famous. 

Through the years of TV news film development, 
NBC's Washington Bureau has pioneered in the business 
of making the expression of political opinions interesting 
to watch. It has been a cooperative eflfort — TV has 
adapted to politics, and politics has adapted to TV. 

The problem, of course, is mainly one of equipment. 
You could tape-record a Congressional hearing with 
relatively little paraphernalia and interference. But to 





Jim Curtis, of the NBC courier staff, passes the Lincoln 

Memorial on his way to the airport with a shipment of 

film intended for television. 



Jean Montgomery, Art Barriault and Bill Corrigan of 

NBC's capital newsroom look over possible news events 

that should be covered by camera crews. 

cover it for TV, is another matter. Cameras and the 
necessary lights take up a lot of room. Committee chair- 
men in the Congress have understandably hesitated to 
permit film crews to cover their hearings because of the 
creation of what some of them call the "circus atmos- 
phere." But, gradually, the Chairmen have become more 
tolerant as they have learned to know the crews and, 
equally important, the eflPectiveness of TV coverage. 

Once when Senator Hoey was conducting hearings 
involving the famous "five-percenters," NBC's Capitol 
Hill cameraman asked him if he could shoot the pro- 
ceedings. "Yes," said the Senator, "so long as I don't 
know you're doing it." The cameraman opened up his 
lens and filmed the hearing without lights. It's not 
a recommended photographic technique, but it worked, 
and it showed the Senator and his colleagues how NBC 
could adapt to their wishes. 

Some rules stand inviolate. There has never been 
film coverage of a debate in the House or Senate, nor has 
there been sound-on-film coverage of a Presidential news 
conference. But the political leaders do adapt to televi- 
sion. Many times a Member of Congress will agree to 
express himself on an issue for the camera and when 
he does so, the statement turns out to be several minutes 
long and somewhat repetitious. The cameraman quietly 
points out that the take would be much more effective 



RADIO AGE J 9 



if it were shorter — and also, if cut, would stand a better 
chance of being used. The Member of Congress usually 
sees the light. 

NBC has pioneered in shooting statements in several 
takes, changing the camera angle and distance during a 
statement, to make the story more interesting to watch. 
NBC was first to use a hand camera so a story could be 
shot anywhere. And NBC was first with the idea of get- 
ting film interviews in interesting locales. 

Radio Vn/t Tours Soviet Embassy 
Vice-President Nixon and David Brinkley discussed 
the problems of the new administration while riding in 
a government Cadillac. It was filmed for Camel that 
night. NBC crews have gone into the Senate Dining 
Room, the Senate Barber Shop, and a Senate elevator to 
get stories. They filmed one conversation between Sena- 
tors Humphrey and Morse while the Senators rode horses 
on Morse's Maryland farm. NBC was first to take the 
nation's television audience on a tour of the highly- 
restricted Russian embassy. 

But the work is not all statements and how to make 
them interesting to the eye. Sometimes there is news of 
a more tangible nature. One morning last March the 
NBC cameramen were on their way to work when a 
bulletin went out over the radio that something had 




NBC cameraman Al Simonson discusses camera tech- 
nique with President Eisenhower's press secretary, James 
C. Hagerty. 



happened at Union Station. To a man, each cameraman 
went over to see what was up. The result was the best 
footage shot by anyone on the now famous wreck of the 
Boston train, the "Federal Express," that had lost its 
brakes. 

NBC's White House cameraman was on duty a few 
years ago when he heard shots from the street outside. 
He picked up his Auricon portable sound camera and 
ran out to see what had happened. The resulting pic- 
tures, on NBC that day, told a vivid story of the assassina- 
tion attempt on President Truman in front of Blair 
House. 

Brad Kress and John Hofen recall with much enjoy- 
ment the time they tramped through the Virginia hills 
with a posse of Federal revenue agents. While Kress 
shot, the revenue men ambushed, and destroyed, one of 
the most productive moonshine stills found in recent 
years. The only problem was that the dynamite used to 
destroy the vats blew their contents sky high. For what 
seemed like an eternity, it rained fermented mash. Kress 
and Hofen spent days trying to get their equipment clean 
again, and had some difficulty convincing their colleagues 
that the scent they bore came from an external source. 

Cameraman is Jailed Twice 

And then there was the time Kress was thrown into 
jail, twice, by a Cuban dictator. Brad was in Key West 
with President Truman when Julian Goodman, Wash- 
ington's Manager of News and Special Events, called 
him up at two o'clock one morning. Could Brad get over 
to Cuba right away? There had been an insurrection and 
Juan Batista had taken over the government. Kress and 
John Langenegger contacted a Cuban airline near Key 
West. No luck. People could get out of Cuba, but no- 
body could get in. The NBC team climbed aboard any- 
way and brazened their way into Havana. They shot 
some silent footage of the Palace and then went out to 
a nearby fort where Batista was entrenched. In sound-on- 
film they recorded the strong-man's proclamation that he 
was now dictator of Cuba. But then there was the prob- 
lem of getting the film back to the States. John Lange- 
negger, under pretext of being no longer needed, tucked 
the film in his shirt and boarded a plane for Miami. 
Kress was so jubilant he got on the phone and called 
Julian Goodman in Washington to report the feat. 
Twenty minutes later he was picked up by the Cuban 
police and thrown into jail. What Kress didn't know 
was that all telephone lines were tapped. 

But no sooner had Kress talked his way out of jail 
than he was picked up again, this time by the Army. 
Brad was back in his old cell before he could convince 
the militaristi that he had just been released, and was 
no criminal. By this time Langenegger had bluffed his 



20 RADIO AGE 



way back to town and the pair again went out to Batista's 
fort. They shot the first interview, in English, with the 
new dictator. Langenegger flew out with the fihn, and 
this time Kress didn't call Washington to report. 

NBC's Capital film crews don't often get locked up, 
but their problems are many, just the same. 

Al Simonson and John Hofen, who cover the White 
House, sometimes get word only a few hours before the 
President takes off on a sudden trip. But they make the 
plane, and follow Mr. Eisenhower wherever he goes. 
These trips take their toll on the crews, as well as on the 
speech-maker. During the 1952 Presidential campaign, 
Simonson and Hofen spent most of their time on the 
Truman train. Sometimes there were a dozen whistle- 
stops a day, each with its rush to set up equipment, shoot 
the speech, and then get self and camera back on the 
train before it started again. When President Eisenhower 
flew to Minneapolis and Mount Rushmore in June, 
Simonson and Hofen made the usual last-minute dashes 
to catch the next plane. But on this trip there was time 
out for ceremony. Along with the President, the NBC 
crew was initiated into the Sioux Indian Singing Tribe 
of the Wahoo. Al Simonson is now "Bad Wound " and 
John Hofen is "Chief Ghost Bear." 

Excitement with the President 

Once, with the President, there was suspense and 
excitement that came too close to home for Hofen. He 
and Simonson were at Augusta, Georgia, with Mr. Eisen- 
hower, making arrangements to return to Washington 
the next day. John had just received word from his wife, 
who was visiting in Charleston, that she and their three- 
year-old daughter were returning to Washington that 
night on the Atlantic Coast Line Champion. He was 
awakened at one in the morning by a call from New 
York. The Champion had jumped track at Dillon, South 
Carolina and he and Simonson should start moving im- 
mediately to cover the tragedy on film. 

The rest of the night, the two drove from Augusta. 
They arrived at dawn to shoot their story and, for John, 
to search the wreckage. Finally they found a railroad 
oSicial. This train, he said, was the coach section of 
the Champion. John's family, with Pullman tickets, had 
passed through in the advance section just fifteen minutes 
ahead of this one. They were safe, by that time, in 
Washington. 

"That was a long night," says Hofen. 

In addition to the trips, another problem is caused by 
Washington's complex local government. In order to 
move freely about town for his pickups of film during 
the 1948 inauguration, Jim Curtis, NBC's courier, had to 
have seventeen different passes. He pinned one on top 
of another and then folded them all up with a little tab 



holding them together, pinned to his blouse. At one 
intersection a policeman stopped him and said he 
couldn't cross, didn't have the right pass. Jim unbuttoned 
the tab, deadpan, and let all seventeen credentials cascade 
to his knees. 

"Take your pick," said Curtis. He crossed the street. 

Some Officials Need Persuasion 

NBC's Washington TV film men have to know their 
trades and be able to move fast, but mostly their success 
depends on their diplomacy. Sometimes government 
officials, new to their offices, are reluctant to make state- 
ments when they're in the news. It's up to the crews 
and Assignment Editor Corrigan to persuade them that 
what they have to say is important, and that the nation 
should be able to see them say it. 

And it takes a good deal of the same commodity to 
convince the President, when outdoors, that he'd really 
look a lot better on film if he'd take off his hat and let 
people see his face. Shadows over the eyes do not help. 

What would Washington be like if the TV film men 
could have their say? Art Barriault sums it up for all 
of them. 

"The millennium will come when every Senator and 
Cabinet officer can clarify the most complicated of politi- 
cal issues in a well-rounded, colorful, one-minute state- 
ment." 

The millennium isn't here, but NBC's diplomats with 
tripods are bringing it closer. 

New York Graduate Engineer 
Wins David Sarnoff Scholarship 

Harold S. Rothman, 21, of 960 Grand Concourse, 
Bronx, N. Y., has been awarded the David Sarnoff Fel- 
lowship at the New York University College of Engi- 
neering for 1953-54. 

The fellowship was established in 1952 by the Radio 
Corporation of America in honor of Brig. General David 
Sarnoff, Chairman of the Board of RCA. Providing an 
annual grant of $2,700 for predoctoral study, the award 
is part of a program to assist in the education of scientific 
personnel for leadership in the growing electronics in- 
dustry. 

Mr. Rothman was the applicant among a class of 175 
graduating engineers who, in the opinion of the Scholar- 
ships Committtee and the RCA Education Committee, 
had the necessary high qualifications for the award. 

With the aid of the Fellowship, Mr. Rothman will 
pursue studies in the microwave field, a subject of spe- 
cialization in which he became interested during his 
undergraduate course in electrical engineering. His career 
plans center on design and development in the micro- 
wave field. 



RADIO AGE 21 



Technical Details of RCA Basic Color Receiver Made 
Available to Competing Set Manufacturers 



Xn a move believed to have few precedents in com- 
petitive industry, the Radio Corporation of America has 
turned over to engineers representing virtually all tele- 
vision set manufacturers full details of design and 
performance of RCA's basic color television receiver. 

This important technical information on the RCA 
color set was presented to 250 representatives of the 
television industry at a color television symposium 
arranged by RCA at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, 
on October 7. It was in line with the Corporation's 
policy of making available to RCA licensees its inven- 
tions and technical "know-how" in compatible color 
television, as it did in black-and-white television six- 
years ago. 

The color receiver described to RCA's competitors 
is the latest field-tested design from which will be 
evolved the production design for color sets to be built 
and marketed under the RCA 'Victor trade-mark, ac- 
cording to Ewen C. Anderson, "Vice President in Charge 
of the Commercial Department. 

Mr. Anderson, who presided at the symposium, pre- 
sented a program in which the industry group received 
full details on special color receiver components, tubes, 
and circuitry, as well as testing equipment. 

Latest technical information was provided on the 
RCA tri-color tube, heart of home color television re- 
ceivers. Attendants at the meeting likewise were briefed 
on the progress of color broadcast station equipment, 
programming and networking plans of the National 
Broadcasting Company, steps by the RCA Service Com- 
pany to help prepare the industry to meet color tele- 
vision servicing problems, and efforts of the RCA 
Industry Service Laboratory to aid the industry over 
technical hurdles. 

No NTSC Color Television System 

Commenting on information made available on 
RCA's basic color television receiver, Mr. Anderson 
declared: 

"In supplying you with such information, I would 
call your attention to the fact that we are making no 
representations concerning inventions of others, if any. 

"In this connection, you have heard much of a 
so-called NTSC color system. "We do not know of any 
NTSC color system. NTSC, which is comprised of 




Representatives of 250 television set manufacturers 

attend a symposium on color TV receivers arranged by 

RCA at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Nev/ York on 

October 7. 



scientists and engineers of virtually the entire television 
industry, has unanimously agreed on certain signal speci- 
fications and recommended them to the Federal Com- 
munications Commission as standards for color TV 
broadcasting. If the FCC adopts these standards they 
will become FCC standards, just as the NTSC standards 
for black-and-white TV became the FCC standards under 
which we operate today. 

'"We call the apparatus we use — as distinguished 
from the signal specifications — the RCA compatible 
color system. The RCA color system operates on the 
standards recommended by the NTSC, and we partici- 
pated in the development of these standards and joined 
in recommending that the FCC adopt them. 'We have 
no doubt that American ingenuity will from time to 
time devise new and improved apparatus which will also 
operate on these same standards." 

Although the first color-receiver production line is 
still several months away, Mr. Anderson said, it is 
within RCA's announced schedule of six to nine months 
after FCC approval of compatible standards. "And we 



22 RADIO AGE 



hope to beat that promise," he declared, continuing: 

"As you are well aware, in March of 1950, RCA 
promised to make available to its domestic receiver 
licensees complete manufacturing information on the 
first RCA color receiver when the receiver is placed in 
commercial production. This information is to include 
complete manufacturing drawings, bill of material, 
sources of supply, and inspection of our production 
setup. RCA will keep that promise. It will invite its 
licensees to the RCA plant before the commercial re- 
lease of a color receiver. 

"I know that you probably want as much information 
as is available at the earliest possible time in order to 
meet your respective schedules for getting color receivers 
to the public. Therefore, it appeared desirable to hold 
this meeting now — well in advance of our planned 
production information program — in order that you 
may have available color receiver information you might 
not already possess." 

The engineering position in which the industry 
finds itself today is the result of many years of hard 
work in getting a compatible color television system 
which can be started in an economically sound manner, 
asserted Mr. Anderson, adding: 

"We in RCA take pride in our part in this endeavor. 
Our achievements in color represent hundreds of man- 
years of work by outstanding electronic engineers, and 
tens of millions of dollars of investment. We feel that 
the time and money already spent, and the large amount 
that will be spent in placing this new service before the 
public represent a sound investment in insurance, cover- 
ing the future success of this industr}'. 

"We strongly believe in the economic and social 
importance of a compatible system of color television, 
and we believe that this new service to the public will 
enable the electronics industry to repeat the success story 
of black-and-white television." 

Mr. Anderson pointed out that as precedent for the 
October 7 meeting on the RCA color television receiver, 
RCA held a symposium on its tri-color tube in July of 
this year for licensed tube manufacturers. This, he said, 
was done as soon as the design was completed on a type 
for early production, thus providing the tube industry 
with advanced information shortening the time required 
to get a satisfactory design of color receiver into pro- 
duction. 

Regarding a color television picture tube recently 
announced by another company, Mr. Anderson said: 

"RCA has read with some interest that another com- 
pany — a company which, by the way, went all out for 
incompatible color and said that compatible color was 
impractical — has finally come around to adopting 
RCA's type of color tube with three guns, and using a 



shadow mask with all the holes. As we read the in- 
formation released by that company the only difference 
is that the phosphor dots are on the rear of the face 
plate instead of on a separate plate directly behind the 
face plate. 

"Following RCA's lead in adopting a 15-inch glass 
envelope, this tube is also enclosed in a 15-inch glass 
bulb and uses the principle of a face plate sealed in with 
metal rings. As this tube uses the basic principles of 
the RCA tri-color tube it should — if it functions satis- 
factorily — work in the all-electronic compatible color 
receiver developed by RCA." 

Color-TV "Kit" For Manufacturers 

During the symposium, an ofiFer was extended by 
the RCA Victor Division to supply television set manu- 
facturers with a limited quantity of developmental kits, 
containing specially designed tubes and parts required 
for the RCA compatible color receiver. 

Although each of more than twenty tubes and com- 
ponents in the kits is in a developmental stage, they are 
being offered at this early date to enable the industry to 
initiate experimental design and production programs 
for color sets. The contents represent the most advanced 
results of RCA's developmental work on electronic com- 
ponents for its basic color receiver. 

Among items in the kits are a complete develop- 
mental RCA tri-color picture tube, specially designed 
receiver tubes, developmental transformers, coils and 
other associated necessities of a color receiver. With 
each kit is complete technical and application in- 
formation. 

New Microwave Relay 

(Continued from page 11) 
snow storms and other atmospheric conditions than the 
higher frequencies. 

RCA engineers underscore the importance of this 
new microwave control system by pointing out the fol- 
lowing advantages and improvements to be expected as 
a result of the installation: 

1 — It is hoped that within a few years the system 
will pay for itself and result in a saving of many 
thousands of dollars a year in control line rentals. 
2 — Records kept on former microwave systems show 
that fewer signal failures occur over a year than 
with low quality control lines. This reliability 
factor is extremely important to RCA operations. 
3 — Throughout the design of the system heavy an- 
tenna support structures, modern antenna design 
and fireproof building construction have been 
utilized to guard against possible damage from 
the elements. 



RADIO AGE 23 



Auto Controls Itself by Electronics 

(Continued from page 9) 
either to indicate the off-course position of the vehicle 
on the dashboard or applied directly to the steering 
mechanism so as to maintain the car in the center of the 
lane. Feedpoints for the cable may be provided at 
intervals along the highway. 

Driver Retains Control of Speed 

"In this system the driver not only would retain 
complete control of the car speed, but, in addition, could 
switch at will from manual to automatic steering. The 
automatic setting could be linked to an external indica- 
tion on the car to inform road supervisors and other 
drivers of the fact that the car is under automatic control. 

"The second step in the evolution of the automatic 
driving system, the prevention of collisions, is a natural 
extension of the guidance equipment. 

"The essential feature of one proposed collision 
prevention system is the transfer of energy from a high- 
frequency power cable, to a series of tiny oscillators or 
transmitters along the lane. The transfer of energy is 
controlled by the passage of a car and a long time con- 
stant circuit or 'memory' causes the transmitter to func- 
tion for a time after the car has passed. The oscillations 
are transmitted backward along a high-attenuation cable 
and sensed by pickup coils on the following cars. Thus 
every car, whether equipped with automatic driving 
devices or not, would be followed by a flying tail' of 
warning signals. Their amplitude would increase as the 
car slowed down and become a maximum for a stalled 
car. Conversely, the sensing system of the foUowing cars 
would be coupled with the car speed indication in such 
fashion that the warning signal would increase with 
their speed. 

"In a completely automatic system this warning 'tail' 
could be used to switch a car from one lane to another 
at specified cross-over points. In this case, the sequence 
of events as a car approaches another vehicle which is 
either stalled or moving at a lower speed is: As the 
signal picked up from the 'flying tail' of the preceding 
vehicle reaches a certain level, the guidance setting would 
be shifted to the left lane. Then, the car would pass 
over to the left lane at the next cross-over point and pass 
the slower vehicle unless: 

a. The turn-off is blocked by signals from a 
nearby vehicle which is already in the left 
lane, or 

b. The slower vehicle impedes further progress 
even before the turn-off point is reached. 

"In the second instance the signal from the 'flying 
tail' would continue to increase in intensity; its indication 
to the driver may be either auditory or visual — in the 



form of a sound of rising amplitude or a flashing light 
of increasing frequency, warning him to decelerate or 
apply the brakes. As an alternative, the signal, from a 
certain level on, may reduce the fuel intake and, at a 
still higher level, actuate the power brakes. 

"Full automatization of the driving process can be 
envisaged as the final stage of the development. In 
addition to the installation of guidance and collision 
prevention equipment on the roads and in the vehicles, 
this would involve automatic inspection of the vehicle 
equipment and a continuous recording of traSic condi- 
tions at the gate stations. Indications of the position and 
velocities of the vehicles along the road section between 
successive stations would aid supervising personnel in 
the problem of traffic distribution. 

"Freight transport along the highways presents one 
of the most challenging applications of full automatiza- 
tion. The establishment of a network of truck routes, 
separate from a highway system designed for passenger 
vehicles only, has been discussed repeatedly. 

"With full automatization, it offers the possibility 
of driverless freight transport over long distances, with 
route terminals taking the form of marshalling yards. 
Here, small dispatching crews would send out the loaded 
trucks to their distant destinations and assign incoming 
vehicles to drivers for local delivery of the consignment. 
Assuming a cruising speed of 30 miles per hour, a 
separation between vehicles of 100 feet, and an average 
truck load of 5 tons, a one-lane route could handle nearly 
200,000 tons a day. This large shipping capacity pro- 
vided with minimum manpower requirements would do 
much to alleviate present bottlenecks in the delivery of 
consumers' goods and industrial raw materials." 

Electronic Memory Device 

(Continued from page 14) 
Each day, great quantities of different kinds of supplies 
arrive in various ways. The outbound shipments are 
just as complex. Each day, thousands of questions have 
to be answered. Is there room in Number Three "Ware- 
house for ten thousand woolen blankets? Are there 
enough overcoats in Number Eight Warehouse to fill a 
requisition from Fort Dix? Did the last shipment reach 
Camp Kilmer? Are there any field kitchens left? How 
many? Should we order more? In this situation the 
computer remembers, works out problems, and gives the 
results which determine the decisions to be made. 

The computer is one of the great new tools of the 
future, a ready servant in man's constant effort to solve 
the complex, to learn more about his world. And in 
their laboratories, thinking about bigger, faster memo- 
ries, about better, more accurate arithmetic units, Jan 
Rajchman and his group are making their contribution. 



24 RADIO AGE 



Transistor-Operated Radio Receiver 
Runs 300 Hours on Flashlight Cells 



A 



COMPACT experimental radio receiver tiiat har- 
nesses a new and greatly improved type of junction tran- 
sistor to provide sensitivity and fidelity comparable to 
conventional table model receivers several times its size 
has been developed at the David Sarnoff Research 
Center of RCA, Princeton, N. J. 

Six small-size flashlight batteries — the set's entire 
power supply — will operate the laboratory receiver for 
at least 500 hours, according to its designer, Loy E. 
Barton, RCA research engineer, who demonstrated the 
instrument at meetings of the Institute of Radio En- 
gineers and at The Franklin Institute. 

The remarkable performance of the RCA experi- 
mental transistor-operated receiver is made possible, 
Mr. Barton said, by the development of junction 
transistors that provide useful amplification at radio 
frequencies as high as 10 megacycles, in contrast to 



previous junction types that usually perform well only 
at audio frequencies. 

Before receivers of the type demonstrated can be 
produced commercially at reasonable cost, transistor 
techniques will have to be refined and new materials 
and associated miniaturized components will have to 
be developed and mass produced, it was pointed out. 
At the present stage of development, the cost of the 
transistors and of the new components would be far 
in excess of comparable mass-produced, tube types of 
receivers. 

The new type of transistors is the result of research 
by Dr. C. W. Mueller and Jacques I. Pankove, of the 
RCA research staff. 

Though still in the laboratory stage. Dr. Mueller 
said, the new transistor is of relatively simple triode 
construction, thus giving promise of eventual quantity 



Front (left) and rear views of the experimental completely 
transistorized radio receiver developed at RCA Labora- 
tories. The row of transistors is pointed out below. 




production. The large frequency span it opens up, he 
said, should broaden considerably the potential appli- 
cation of transistors. Unlike its predecessor types, it 
can operate in IF (intermediate frequency) stages of 
AM broadcast receivers, and in the video amplification 
stages of television receivers. 

Receiver Boasts Large Speaker 

The transistor receiver used in demonstrations by 
Mr. Barton has six transistors of the new radio-frequency 
type and three experimental junction transistors of the 
audio-frequency range. Although not much smaller than 
conventional portable radios built with tubes, the set 
employs the space saved by use of transistors (and 
miniaturized IF transformers) for a 4- by 6-inch 
loudspeaker. 

In comparing the experimental receiver with a 
typical portable tube receiver, Mr. Barton said the 
former required only one-ninth the battery power yet 
produced roughly twice the audio output. 

To show that a variety of receiver designs are 
possible with the new transistor, Mr. Barton has made 
another transistor-operated receiver that uses six stand- 
ard penlight batteries as a power supply good for 50 
hours. This set has a smaller speaker (3 inch) and its 
size is less than half that of the higher performance 
receiver. Smaller size was achieved by sacrifice of 
speaker size and playing life, he said. 

Studies Lead to Basic Changes 

Dr. Mueller explained that higher frequency opera- 
tion of the transistor had been obtained by studying 
in detail the physics of the RCA audio-frequency alloy 
junction transistor and determining the characteristics 
which reduced its frequency response. 

As a result of these studies, he said, basic changes 
were made in the geometry, the type of germanium, 
and the alloy used. A thicker wafer of germanium is 
employed in order to reduce resistance between the 
junction region and base connection, thereby giving 
higher gain at higher frequencies. 

At the same time, the distance between the two 
junctions of impurity material has been markedly re- 
duced by drilling a hole that almost perforates the 
wafer, he said. The two junctions, of smaller area 
than in previous designs, are then formed on either 
side of the paper-thin layer of germanium that remains. 
Of great importance, also, he said, is the use of an 
alloying material which already contains some ger- 
manium. 

The experimental transistor type described by Dr. 
Mueller was of the p-n-p (positive-negative-positive) 



TV Problems — as Viemd m 1929 

The instantaneous projection through space of 
light images produced directly from the object in 
the studio, or the scene brought to the broadcasting 
station through remote control, involves many 
problems. Special types of distribution networks, 
new forms of stagecraft, and a development of 
studio equipment and technique are required. 

New problems would rain in upon the broad- 
casting station. New forms of artistry would have 
to be encouraged and developed. Variety, and more 
variety, would be the cry of the day. The ear may 
be content with the oft-repeated song; the eye 
would be impatient with the twice-repeated scene. 

David Sarnoff (1929) 



variety. Similar methods can be used to make n-p-n 
transistors that operate at the higher frequencies, he said. 
The new radio-frequency units, he said, can provide 
a power amplification of about 10,000 to 1 (gain of 
up to 39 decibels) at 455 kilocycles, the common 
intermediate frequency of broadcast receivers. Their 
amplification is somewhat less at higher frequencies, 
but amplification of about 16 to 1 (gain of 12 decibels) 
is available at frequencies as high as 10 megacycles. 
The transistor may be used as an oscillator at fre- 
quencies as high as 40 megacycles, he added. 

Toscanini and NBC Symphony 
Open 17th Season on November 7 

The NBC Symphony, under the leadership of Arturo 
Toscanini, will open its seventeenth season on the air 
with a broadcast from Carnegie Hall in New York on 
November 7, starting at 6:30 p.m., EST. For the sixth 
successive season, Guido Cantelli will share the podium 
with Maestro Toscanini, directing eight of the 22 sched- 
uled weekly concerts. 

Among the features planned by Toscanini for the 
new season are a two-part concert performance of Verdi's 
opera "Un Ballo in Maschera," Brahms' "German Re- 
quiem," Zoltan Kodaly's "Psalmus Hungaricus," and con- 
certs featuring the works of Sibelius, Wagner and Men- 
delssohn. The eight performances to be directed by 
Cantelli will include such works as Debussy's "The Mar- 
tyrdom of Saint Sebastian," Hindemith's "Concerto for 
Strings and Brass," and Frescobaldi's "Four Pieces." 

During the season, Toscanini also will direct the NBC 
Symphony for a number of RCA Victor recordings. 



26 RADIO AGE 




George Folster, home from the wars, faces a microphone in an NBC studio 



THE FAR EAST IS HIS BEAT 



From Australia to Panmunjom George Folster has Followed 

the Tides of War and the Korean Armistice as NBC's 

News Correspondent in the West Pacific Area 



"W 



E don't abandon the story even after it cools off." 

This is the terse and simple phrase which George 
Thomas Folster uses to describe the manner in which 
NBC's news covers the world's hot spots. 

Folster is a man who should know. 

NBC's chief correspondent in the Far East, it was 
Folster who directed the network's coverage of the 
three-year Korean war. 

Folster is on another of his visits home. This time 
he traveled on a short timetable, for he allowed himself 
all of ten days in the States. 

But in spite of that, Folster has spent much of 
his time consulting with William McAndrew, manager 
of news and special events; Joseph Meyers, Central 
News Desk editor, and other members of the staflF. 

The last time George Folster came home, he made 
the trip in his own 50-foot ketch, a sailing yacht, 
crossing the vast Pacific from Toyko to San Francisco 



in 47 days. He was compared to a swashbuckling 
Magellan. He was on an official vacation, his first 
in years, and he used it to satisfy a lifetime ambition 
— to make a round trip through 5,000 miles of shark 
infested sea across the Pacific. 

In 1940, he left Worcester, Mass., where he had 
been born on May 6, 1906, of a New England whaling 
family, to accept a job as assistant director of the 
Fahnestock Expeditions. His duties required that he 
captain the three-masted schooner Director Second across 
the Pa:cific. 

The expedition which Folster organized was com- 
missioned by the American Museum of Natural History 
to collect birds and to record native music on South 
Sea Islands. It was on this same trip that he did his 
first broadcasts for NBC, on a special arrangement. 

Nine months after the expedition weighed anchor, 
the Director Second was forced onto the treacherous 



RADIO AGE 27 



coral of Australia's great barrier reef. Folster and a 
handful of men continued the expedition through the 
Solomon Islands, in native canoes and small boats, 
traveling 3,000 miles by sail and paddle, and finally 
reaching Australia. 

Once he was at his destination, Folster was able 
to settle down to the more conventional job of writing 
and broadcasting news for the Australian radio net- 
work. In 1941, Folster did something which was event- 
ually to serve America well: he helped align and test 
radio circuits between there and the U.S.A. which 
subsequently proved to be of immense importance when 
the war spread to the Pacific. 

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor marked the 
appointment of George Folster as a war correspondent 
in Sydney. He moved to Darwin and was the only 
American to cover General MacArthur's arrival in 
Australia. 

Thereafter Folster moved island by island through 
the Pacific with MacArthur's and Admiral Nimitz' 
forces as they beat back the Japanese. He made the 
first broadcast from bloody Guadalcanal on Nov. 6, 
1943, and broadcast first from the front lines on 
Bougainville in March, '44. 

Folster plowed ashore with the First Cavalry Di- 
vision at Luzon in 1945, and made the first post- War 
broadcast from inside Japan the morning of the first 
landing at Yokosuka. Folster and his wife, the former 
Helen J. Fausey, of Grand Rapids, Mich., became 
NBC's correspondents in Tokyo at the war's end. 




The outbreak of the war in Korea three and a 
half years ago found NBC on the spot with a fully 
staiied news bureau, in contrast to other networks which 
at that time depended upon "stringers". When former 
President Harry S. Truman made it clear that the 
United States would regard the Communist attack on 
South Korea as an act of aggression and would send 
American forces into the country to help resist the 
invasion, NBC's staff in the Far East — backstopped by 
seasoned personnel, many of them former war corres- 
pondents themselves, at home — moved into action to 
report developments for America. 

W^ar Coverage has no Parallel 

The coverage which was then given the war by 
NBC has no parallel in radio and television history. 
Reporters were accredited to the United Nations armies, 
broadcast from the front lines under fire with the 
troops. Cameramen established a routine for newsfilm 
coverage destined to give a new dimension to journalism. 

Jim Robinson; Wilson Hall; Robert Hecox; Jung 
Su Kwan; Irving R. Levine; John Rich; William J. 
Dunn, these were among the names of NBC radio 
reporters who helped bring the meaning of this war 
against Communist aggression home to the vitally con- 
cerned people of the United States. 

The NBC combat correspondents, exposing them- 
selves to the same dangers to which troops were 
subjected, moved forward with the armies; Pusan Per- 
imeter . . . Inchon landing . . . Wonsan landing . . . 
Operation Little Switch. . . . 

During the first week of the war, NBC had its 
tape recorder machines and other broadcasting equip- 
ment on the front lines, to the surprise (and con- 
sternation) of competitive networks. The first "actuals" 
heard from the combat area by the people of America, 
were made by NBC, inaugurating a long series of news 
breaks for the network's listeners. One oldtimer recalls 
that correspondents, often caught short in their deter- 
mination to get their stories back home, were forced 
to wrap the tape around old beer cans and ration 
boxes so as to preserve it. 

Folster estimates that NBC news broadcasts, not 
including special events, originating from Korea or 
dealing with the war and originating in Tokyo, during 
the three-year period ending July, 1953, exceeded 3,500. 
No one has a record of the film footage made by the 
network and flown to the States dealing with the Korean 
war, but if laid end to end, it would probably reach 
the moon and back. 

Jim Robinson, NBC wartime reporter, is typical of the 

combat correspondents who kept the homeland informed 

of Communist aggression in the Far East. 



28 RAD/O AGE 



In This New Field of Custom Recording 
Even Cows are Made to Talk 



Phonographs and Special Discs are being 
Widely Adopted by Many Branches of 
Industry as Effective Aids to Sales 



By James P. Davis 

Manager, Custom Record Division 
RCA Victor Division 



T. 



.IME was when cows were expected only to moo, auto- 
mobiles to honk their horns, and refrigerators to purr 
gently. Now you'll find some that talk. 

This phenomenon is an accomplishment of the RCA 
Victor Custom Record Division, which, among its other 
activities, has recorded some brisk sales talks for delivery 
by the most unlikely parties. For example, there is Car- 
melita, a cow associated with Kraft Foods, who spoke 
to customers in retail grocery stores around the country 
some months ago during a special promotion of the 
firm's caramels. There is also the Crosley refrigerator, 
which has intrigued customers in numerous showrooms 
by delivering its own commentary to anyone who opened 
its door. Now automobiles in the hands of certain deal- 
ers are preparing to do the same, and it is likely that 
the habit will spread among hitherto non-talking com- 
modities. 




It is, of course, the familiar phonograph record that 
is behind these unusual activities, and they simply con- 
firm that this time-honored means of sound communica- 
tion is making itself more useful than ever in modern 
sales promotion. Aside from these occasional spectacular 
phases, the custom-made record has been steadily moving 
up into a role of considerable importance in the business 
world. 




Last year, the RCA Victor Custom Record Division 
filled orders for millions of transcriptions, phonograph 
records and slide-film recordings for customers ranging 
from the International Civil Aviation Organization to 
an advertising concern promoting bridal photographs. 
This year, orders have been running at a rate 20% higher 
than in 1952. The recorded contents, aside from talking 
cows, automobiles and refrigerators, have run a gamut 
from animal calls to the conventional human voice. The 
array has been recorded on a wide variety of discs, from 
the 61/^-inch pure vinyl "spinner" to the l6-mm slide- 
film, designed for use with slides and filmstrips. 

Musical Recordings Predominate 

A large percentage of the custom record business 
consists of musical recordings for more than 100 com- 
mercial record companies who lack recording facilities 
of their own. But the growth of the versatile custom 
service since its establishment some eighteen years ago 
points also to the greater effectiveness of the spoken 
over the written word in numerous situations. A voice 
is peculiarly effective as a consumer attraction when 
it emerges from something that is not ordinarily expected 
to talk, although the bulk non-musical custom record 
buyers have called on the service as an extremely handy 




RADIO AGE 29 



way of getting a statement, a set of instructions or a 
spot announcement around to a scattered audience in a 
manner that makes more of an impression tlian does a 
letter or a circular saying the same thing. 

Prominent among the orders filled during the past 
year by the RCA Custom Record Division have been 
those placed by firms anxious to reach dealers, salesmen 
or customers. Sears Roebuck, for example, ordered 45- 
rpm records bearing spoken messages from two of the 
firm's sales executives to managers and sales personnel 
outlining a major scale sales campaign in the 400 Sears 
Roebuck stores. A similar venture was a four-minute 
statement of company plans recorded by John C. Sharp, 
president of the Hotpoint Company, for more than 
10,000 dealers and distributors handling company prod- 
ucts. Both companies reported themselves pleased with 
the results. 




Other organizations and individuals have made use 
of custom records as a convenient vehicle for reaching 
a wide membership or a scattered constituency. The 
American Legion ordered a 61^-inch disc to introduce 
its new commander to Legion posts and to push a cam- 
paign for new members. And a candidate for a Rotary 
International office reached all prospective voters ahead 
of time with a recorded message as part of his successful 
election campaign. 

Discs have long been used as language aids, but a 
new wrinkle was added last year through the RCA Victor 
Custom Record Division by the International Civil 
Aviation Organization in the form of multilingual basic 
radio communication lessons. Flying vernacular being 
what it is, the pilot holding radio conversation over for- 
eign territory these days is likely to find himself coping 
with a tongue bearing no resemblance to anything in 
his phrase book. The ICAO recordings, featuring avia- 
tion trade talk in several languages, are designed to 
smooth the path for him. 

Other instructional uses to which the recent crop 
of custom records has been put include the instruction 
of retail sales personnel in selling techniques, the train- 
ing of secretaries and clerical workers, and tips to display 



staflfs on the proper way to feature given products. Under 
the last heading came another oddity in the form of a 
talking display case used by Kraft Foods to point out 
that improper display loses customers. 

While the human voice has accounted for the greater 
volume of non-musical record production at RCA Victor, 
the engineers of the custom record division have been 
called upon at one time or another to handle everything 
audible, from a foghorn to a set of apparently meaning- 
less tones and vibrations. 

Recorded Foghorn Saves Money 

The foghorn was recorded for use — logically enough, 
as a foghorn — in a West Coast area where amplification 
of a record turned out to be far more economical than 
installation of an actual horn. On the other hand, certain 
tones and vibrations were put on a disc for the benefit 
of sinus sufferers at the order of the International Hear- 
ing Institute. It seems that application of suitable vibra- 
tions through earphones opens the sinuses. 

In addition to these two samples, the division has 
recorded a vast collection of bird and animal calls, under- 
water sounds (for Navy instructional use), bells, heart- 
beats, and, of course, a very great quantity of music. 

About half of the users of custom records send in 
their own tape, wire or discs to be processed and pressed 
at the New York plant of the Custom Record Division. 
The other half arrange for original recording by the 
division at one of its three studios, located in New York, 
Chicago and Hollywood. The studio recordings are made 
first on magnetic tape, then transferred to discs, processed 
and pressed through the most up-to-date facilities and 
shipped out according to the customer's specifications. 

Experience in the custom record division up to now 
indicates that apparently there is no limit to which the 
recordings can be put by both business and non-commer- 
cial users. The RCA Victor engineers who fill the custom 
requests have learned by now not to be surprised at what 
they are called upon to record. By the same token, the 
buying public had better brace itself — there's no telling 
what may be talking next year. 




30 RADIO AGE 



RCA'NBC FIRSTS IN COLOR TELEVISION 



The foundation for a color television system was 
laid by RCA's pioneering in research and engineering 
development of black-and-white television. 

Throughout the 1930's field tests and experimenta- 
tion with black-and-white television continued. In April, 
1939, at the opening of the New York World's Fair, 
RCA-NBC began the first regular television broadcasting 
service to the public, and RCA Victor introduced tele- 
vision receivers for public use. Fundamental develop- 
ments in all-electronic black-and-white television pro- 
vided the base for RCA's pioneering research in color 
television that led to the following advances: 

1940 Color television, produced by electronic means, 
was demonstrated to the Federal Communications Com- 
mission by RCA at Camden, N. J. 

1940-1941 NBC started work on a field sequential 
color system and transmitted the first color signals from 
that system over station W2XBS, Empire State Build- 
ing, on February 20, 1941. On December 1, 1941, NBC 
gave a closed circuit demonstration of color television 
using the NBC field sequential system with 441 lines. 
Purpose of the demonstration was to prove to the FCC 
that the field sequential system, when limited to the 
same bandwidth as the black-and-white system, was 
lacking in resolution as compared to the latter. 

1941-1945 RCA-NBC devoted its research and en- 
gineering resources to wartime military applications of 
electronics including television. 

1945 RCA demonstrated field sequential color tele- 
vision and 3-D color television to the industry, and 
started post-war evaluation of color TV. 

1945 RCA gave full attention to the development of 
an all-electronic color television system after further 
tests and demonstrations proved that a mechanical color 
system had fundamental limitations. Two main objec- 
tives were: High standards of performance, and com- 
patibility with black-and-white television. 

1946 An all-electronic projection type color television 
receiver with a 15 x 20-inch screen was demonstrated 
publicly for the first time at the David Sarnoff Research 
Center of RCA at Princeton, N. J. 

1947 All-electronic color television pictures projected 
on an 8 x 10-foot screen were demonstrated by RCA at 
The Franklin Instiaite, Piiiladelphia, Pa. 



A color television camera for use with the RCA 
all-electronic color television system was demonstrated 
to the FCC and others at the David SarnoflF Research 
Center, Princeton, N. J., studio and outdoor pick-ups 
were featured. 

1948 RCA continued its reasearch and development 
work to improve and simplify the all-electronic color 
television system. 

1949 RCA informed the FCC it had developed a 
new high-definition all-electronic color television system 
operating on a 6-megacycle channel and completely com- 
patible with the existing black-and-white television 
system. 

Field tests of the RCA all-electronic compatible 
color television system operating on 6-megacycle chan- 
nel, began in Washington, D. C, over NBC station, 
WNBW, and a demonstration was held for the FCC. 
Tests also were conducted in Washington over an ex- 
perimental UHF station simultaneously over VHF. 

NBC conducted compatible color television tests in 
Washington D. C, for the first time during regular 
broadcast hours. The puppet show, "Kukla, Fran and 
Ollie", televised by color cameras in Washington, was 
fed to the NBC-TV network. It was the first regular 
TV program to be seen simultaneously in color ( in 
Washington), while viewers in other cities on the net- 
work viewed the show on standard receivers in black- 
and-white. 

RCA-NBC transmitted color television over a micro- 
wave relay loop between Washington, D. C, and Balti- 
more, Md., in a demonstration to the FCC. 

1950 RCA demonstrated its compatible color tele- 
vision system and the RCA tri-color tube to the FCC, to 
other government officials and to the industry. One tube 
utilized a single electron gun and another three electron 
guns. Also a new transmission development to make 
color television programs produced by the RCA all- 
electronic system available to broadcasters over coaxial 
cable networks, as well as over radio relays, was demon- 
strated between Washington and New York. The color 
images, after transmission over the cable, were broadcast 
by WNBT, New York on VHF (very-high-frequencies) , 
and were also sent by radio relay to NBC's experimental 
UHF (ultra-high-frequencies) station at Bridgeport, 
Conn., for rebroadcast. 

(Continued on page 32) 



RADIO AGE 3? 



In this mobile TV 
truck are com- 
plete facilities for 
pici<ing up remote 
programs and for 
relaying them to 
the main studio or 
transmitter. 




New Mobile Unit Cimes 
All Equipment Needed 
For Remote TV Pickups 

A 

±\. mobile unit to carry all equipment needed to pick 
up, monitor, and relay remote television events to a TV 
station, has been developed by the RCA Engineering 
Products Department. 

The newly-designed television studio on wheels is 
mounted on a standard 11 '2 -ton truck chassis. It has 
a separate air-conditioned control room with seating 
facilities for driver, program director, and up to three 
operating technicians. It has a separate "air-exhaust" 
enclosure for power supplies, complete storage section 
for up to three camera chains with large cable reels at 
rear, and a reinforced roof to support personnel and 
operating equipment when on location. 

As a complete studio, the mobile unit is ready to 
move when needed, and ready for operation in a mini- 
mum of time. 



RCA-NBC "Firsts" in Color Television 

(Continued from page 51) 
1951 RCA presented detailed technical and engineer- 
ing information on its tri-co!or tube to competing tube 
and set manufacturers, at a series of meetings it organ- 
ized to aid in the further development, testing and intro- 
duction of color by the industry. 

Network color television tests conducted by RCA- 
NBC, originating in Washington, D. C, were transmitted 
by microwave relay to New York and re-broadcast to 
the David SarnofF Research Center at Princeton. N. ]. 



Tests of the RCA compatible color television system 
began in New York over NBC station WNBT. Field 
tests featured reception on the RCA tri-color picture 
tube and outdoor pick-ups by the color television camera. 

RCA conducted public reaction tests of compatible 
color television with receivers in the Lounge of the 
Center Theatre, Radio City, N. Y. The programs were 
also produced on a 9 x 12-foot screen at the Colonial 
Theatre, New York. 

RCA color television signals originating in New 
York were transmitted in a test via microwave to Los 
Angeles and looped back to New York over an 8,000- 
mile circuit. 

1 952 Compatible color television tests were conducted 
in New York for the first time by NBC during regular 
broadcasting hours. The Colonial Theater in New York 
was equipped with color studio equipment making it 
the first studio to be made ready for large scale tele- 
vision programs in color. 

1 953 RCA demonstrated its compatible color tele- 
vision system to the Committee on Interstate and 
Foreign Commerce, House of Representatives, to the 
FCC and to the industry. A color television camera 
equipped with a single tri-color tube, instead of three 
color pick-up tubes. Both outdoor and indoor pick-ups 
were presented. 

RCA made available to competing manufacturers 
in the radio-television industry the latest information 
on design and production of its improved tri-color tele- 
vision picture tube at a technical symposium in New 
York. 

RCA-NBC petitioned the FCC on June 25, 195i to 
adopt the compitible technical signal specifications used 
by RCA color television system as standards for com- 
mercial color television broadcasting. 



32 RADIO AGE 




^ 




v^ 



RCA NEEDS 
ENGINEERS 



^ho ^on't be held back! 

RCA, pioneer and leader in every important branch of radio-electronics, 
has a permanent position for you if you are an experienced Electronic, 
Computer, Electrical, Mechanical or Communications Engi- 
neer . . . Physicist . . . Metallurgist . . . Physical Chemist . . . 
Ceramist . . . Glass Technologist. 

You may choose to specialize in research, development, design and 
application. Both commercial and defense projects. 

POSITIONS OPEN IN RESEARCH- 
DEVELOPMENT— DESIGN— APPLICATION 

in any of the following fields : 



RADAR— 

Circuitry — Antenna Design — Servo 
Systems— Information Display Systems 
— Gear Trains— Stable Elements- 
Intricate Mechanisms 

COMPUTERS— 

Digital and Analog— Systems Planning 
-Storage Technique — Circuitry — 
Servo Mechanisms — Assembly Design- 
High Speed Intricate Mechanisms 

COMMUNICATIONS— 



cialized Military Systems 

MISSILE GUIDANCE— 

Systems Planning and Design — Kada 
and Fire Control — Servo Mechanisms- 
Vibration and Shock Problems 



NAVIGATIONAL AIDS— 

Loran — Shoran — Altimeters — Airborne 
Radar 

TELEVISION DEVELOPMENT— 

Receivers ^Transmitters and Studio 
Equipment 

COMPONENT PARTS- 



ELECTRONIC TUBE DEVELOPMENT— 

Receiving — Transmitting— Cathode 
Ray — Phototubes and Magnetrons 

ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT 
FIELD ENGINEERS— 

Specialists for domestic and 
assignment on military electronic 
munications and detection gear. 



There's not a temporary job among them. 
War or depression, RCA has continued to 
grow . . . growth in which you'll share when 
you launch your lifetime RCA career. 

For many other reasons, too, RCA is a 
good place for you to work. RCA aflFords 
unexcelled facilities in pleasant surround- 
ings . . . every chance for advancement in 
rank and income . . . enjoyable suburban 
or country living conditions . . . professional 
recognition for achievement. ..modern retire- 
ment program. Many Company-paid bene- 
fits for you and the family. PLUS modern 
tuition-refund plan for advanced study 
at recognized universities. 



Personal interviews arranged in your city. 

I f you qualify for any of the positions 
listed above, please send us a complete 
resume of your education and experience. 
Please state your specialized field preference. 
Send I 



MR. ROBERT E. McQUISTON, Manager 

Specialized Employment Division, 

Dept. 215-J 

Radio Corporation of America, 

30 Rockefeller Plaia, New York 20, N.Y. 




ffilDfO CORPORATION of AMERICA 




Owner gbes round tlie world 
in 40 seconds ! 



With this new multi-wave portaljle you can circle the globe in 
the time it takes to twist a dial. 

That's because the RCA Victor Strato-World radio has Elec- 
tronic Band Spread Tuning. 

Instead of being squeezed together on one band segment, 
short-wave stations are in spread fomiation across the dial of 
your 7-band Strato-World. You can tune London, liome, Mos- 
cow, Tokyo just as you do the local stations. 

There's real one-handed portability, too. The Strato-World 
is a trim 2.3 pounds, including batteries ... or it can be plugged 
into an electrical outlet. 

Here is the performance, the engineering and design you've 
come to expect from RCA Victor, a division of the Radio Cor- 
poration of America. See this globe-trotting, pace-setting port- 
able at your RCA Victor dealer's. 



^fg^®RADfO CoiiPORATION OF AMERICA 

World leader in radio — first in tele\'ision 



RADIO AGE 

RESEARCH • MANUFACTURING • COMMUNICATIONS • Bj^OtADCASTING • TELEVISION 



^954 




ANUARY 
1954 



"CARMEN" 



OR TELEVISION 




Evei^tlie East meets West... in PaHistaii 




RCA joined hands with Radio Pakistan in all phases 
of tliis great national communications project 



How the two parts of a great country achieve unity in spite of 
a 1,000-mile separation ... by means of modern radio broadcasting 



Six years ago Pakistan had neither a 
government nor a capital. There were 
over 77 milHon people and 360,1)00 
square miles of land, but commerce was 
almost at a standstill . . . transportation 
and communications were disrupted. 
And the greatest migration in history 
was taking place . . . 7,000,000 dis- 
placed persons crowding into the as yet 
unorganized nation. 

The years have wrought an astound- 
ing change. Today Pakistan is far ad- 
vanced in a co-ordinated program of 
enlightenment and education for its own 
people . . . and deeply concerned in 
helping to promote greater understand- 
ing, tolerance and friendship among the 
peoples of the world. 

Radio has played a great part in Pak- 
istan's rapid development. From the 
very birth of the new nation, radio 
was used as the quick and sure medium 



of communication, of enlightenment. 
Radio Pakistan came into being ... at- 
tracted competent engineers to its pro- 
gram . . . developed into a compact pow- 
erful voice. To RCA was given the job 
of providing the powerful radio equip- 
ments installed by Radio Pakistan. 

Today in Pakistan there are two 50 
KW short-wave stations operating on an 
international schedule. A IV2 KW short- 
wave transmitter at Dacca is used to 
link East with West Pakistan. A 5 KW 
broadcast transmitter at Dacca covers 
East Pakistan. Others join the great net- 
work at Lahore, Peshawar and Rawal- 



pindi . . . operating a total broadcast 
time of 96 program hours a day. 

Radio Pakistan is completely co- 
ordinated. Its nine transmitters link all 
sections of the nation into one united 
network ... as well as being an enlight- 
ened voice heard round the world. 

RCA products and services are avail- 
able in all open world markets, through 
RCA distributors and associated com- 
panies. The new hook "Communica- 
tions, Key to Progress" tells the inspiring 
stonj of radio at work in many countries. 
Write to RCA International Division, 
30 Rockefeller Plaza, N.Y., U.S.A. 




KCA IMTtRNATIONAt DIVISION 

RADIO CORPORATION of AMERICA 

KCA BUILDING 

30 ROCKtftUeK PIAZA. NtW YORK, N.Y.. U.S.A. 

World leader in radio, first in recorded music, first in television. 




VOLUME 13 NUMBER 1 



tCH • MANUFACTURING • COMMUNICATIONS 
BROADCASTING •TELEVISION 



JANUARY 1954 




COVER 

Color cameras focus on a 
scene from "Carmen" at 
NBC's Colonial Theatre in 
New York during the first per- 
formance of opera on color 
television. 



NOTICE 

When requesting a change in mailing 
address please include the code letters 
and numbers which appear with the 
stencilled address on the envelope. 

Radio Age is published quarterly fa/ 
Ihe Deportment of (nformofion, Rodro 
Corporolion of Americo, 30 Hocke- 
leller Plozo, New Vorlt 20, N, Y. 

Printed In USA. 



CONTENTS 

Pago 

Stage Set for Color Television as Electronic Science Advances ... 3 
by Brig. General David Sarnoff 

Folsom Sees Business Opportunities in Buyers' Market 7 

Four Executives of RCA are Promoted ' 

RCA and NBC Launch Introductory Year of Color TV 10 

Magnetic Tape Recording of Television Pictures 13 

RCA Licenses and Royalties 1" 

World's Most Powerful Radio Transmitter Dedicated 17 

No Secrets Beneath the Ocean for the "Fish Finder" 21 

by George P. Aldridge 

Blood Counting by Electronics 23 

New Flexibility for Television in NBC's Studio 5H 24 

by Leonard Hole 

World of Electronics Produces a Long-Run Hit Show 26 

by Horry P. O'Brien 

Icebreaker Plows Labrador Waters with RCA Radio Equipment ... 29 

Tiny Broadcast Receivers Use Improved RCA Transistors 31 




RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA 

RCA Building, New York 20, N.Y. 



DAVID SARNOFF, Chairman of the Board 
JOHN Q. CANNON, Secretary 



FRANK M. FOLSOM, Preiidenf 
ERNEST B. GORIN, Treasurer 




Brig. General David Sarnoff, Chairman of the Board of RCA, displays the magnetic tape and recording unit 
developed by RCA to record both color and black-and-white television programs. (Story on Page 13) 



Sarnoff Reports Stage Set for Color TV as 
Science of Electronics Makes New Advances 

RCA Board Chairman Says in Year-end Statement that 1954 Holds 
Promise of New Progress in Radio-Television and Electronics 



by Brig. Gen. David Sarnoff 

Chairman of the Board 
Radio Corporation of America 

P 

JL ROGRESS in development of color television, approval 

by the Federal Communications Commission of signal 
standards using the RCA compatible color television 
system, and preparation by stations for colorcasting, 
set the stage for 1954 to be the "Introductory Year" 
of color television. 

Color telvision holds great potential for future ex- 
pansion of the industry. Other branches of electronics 
also advanced on many fronts throughout 1953. Major 
advances during the year included: 

1. Great strides in development of electronic weap- 
ons and instruments for national defense. 

2. Expanded and improved television broadcasting 
service, including progress in the use of ultra high 
frequencies. 

3. Development of magnetic tape recording for tele- 
vision in both color and black-and-white, ushering 
in a new era of "electronic photography". 

4. Further development and application of transis- 
tors, promising simplification and miniaturization of 
electronic equipment. 

5. Further clarification of radio's enduring position 
as a vital broadcasting service to the American public. 

6. Inauguration of the world's most powerful radio 
transmitter by the U. S. Navy, marking an historic 
milestone in world-wide communications. 

7. New levels of popularity for recorded music, 
sparked by progress in high fidelity records and 
phonographs. 

8. Progress in industrial electronics, including push- 
button controls, electronic computers, food steriliza- 
tion, and closed-circuit television. 

The year 1954 holds promise for new advances 
throughout the radio-television and electronic industry. 
Fulfillment of the promise of this new year, however, 
will depend upon how well the leaders of the industry 



meet current economic problems and the new challenges 
of our times. 

The Radio Corporation of America in 1953 produced 
the largest volume of business in its 34-year history. 
Sales of products and services approximated $830 million 
during the year. Net profits are estimated at $34,700,000. 
Dividends declared on the Common Stock amounted to 
$20,312,000. In addition, $3,152,952 was paid in divi- 
dends on the Preferred Stock. Employment totaled 65,- 
000. Manufacturing accounted for 70% of net earnings; 
radio-television broadcasting, 15%; communications, 
5%, and all other activities, 10%. 

Government business accounted for about $160 mil- 
lion, or 19% of total sales. The current backlog of 
Government orders was about $500 million at the year- 
end, and is expected to expand in 1954. 

NBC Organization Strengthened 

The organization of the National Broadcasting Com- 
pany was greatly strengthened during the past year in 
every phase of its operation. Sylvester L. "Weaver, Jr., 
elected President of NBC on December 4, 1953, has an 
awareness of high purpose, a sincere regard for public 
service, proven capacity for showmanship, a thorough 
understanding of the advertisers' needs and problems and 
an appreciation of the economic facts of life in the 
broadcasting industry. He has youth and a breadth and 
depth of experience. 

Robert W. Sarnoff, the newly elected Executive "Vice 
President of NBC, has served in a wide range of capaci- 
ties which include excellent experience in programming, 
production and sales. These two men working together 
as a harmonious team will lead NBC in strengthening 
its position as the Nation's No. 1 broadcaster and keep 
it at the forefront as "first" in service to the public in 
both radio and television. 

Since the end of World "War II, great advances have 
been made in the military application of communica- 
tions, radar, missile control, airborne television and many 
other phases of electronics which fit into the modern 
ramparts of our Nation's security. Our objective is not 
only to produce electronic weapons and instruments, but 



RAD/O AGE 3 



through research and engineering to keep the United 
States at the forefront of science in its relationship to 
military electronics. 

Color Television Advances 

The date December 17, 1953, on which the FCC 
approved standards for the commercial broadcasting of 
compatible color television, will be remembered in the 
annals of communications along with the historic date 
of April 30, 1939, when RCA-NBC introduced all- 
electronic black-and-white television as a new broadcast 
service to the public at the opening of the World's Fair 
in New York. 

RCA is proud of the leadership its scientists and 
engineers achieved in developing the all-electronic com- 
patible color television system and the RCA tri-color 
tube. 

Compatibility means that existing television sets 
can receive color programs in black-and-white with- 
out any changes or additional devices. For this principle 
and feature of compatibility in television, RCA fought 
hard and long, not only to achieve it scientifically, but to 
advance such a system as the only logical and practical 
service in the interest of the public and the television 
industry. 

Because of compatibility, no one need hesitate to 
buy a black-and-white television set. It will not be 
obsolete because of color, and it will perform many years 
of service. Color television sets at the outset will cost 
from $800 to $ 1 ,000, and production will be in relatively 
small quantities until the industry is geared for mass 
production. 

The National Broadcasting Company has completed 
program plans for color television's introductory year 
that call for each of NBC's regular productions to be 
broadcast in color at least once during the year — at the 
average rate of two programs a week. 

During the past year NBC's personnel had an op- 
portunity to acquire extensive experience in the broad- 
casting of color television programs. Significant develop- 
ments in 1953 pointed the way to further progress that 
may be expected in 1954: 

1. Compatible color television was viewed for the 
first time in Chicago on September 22, 1953, when 
RCA-NBC staged a demonstration at the annual 
meeting of the Association of National Advertisers. 
This inter-city program was transmitted over a closed 
circuit from New York. 

2. On November 3, 1953, RCA-NBC staged two 
historic "firsts": A live show performed in the NBC 



NBC's New Team 




Sylvester L. Weaver, Jr. 
President 



Robert W. Sornoff 
Executive I ' ice-Prexident 



color television studio at the Colonial Theatre on 
Broadway in New York was relayed by microwave 
across the continent to Burbank, California, and a 
color film also was televised for the first time from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. 

3. A color television version of the opera "Carmen" 
telecast by NBC in New York was acclaimed as 
"breathtaking and beautiful" and "a magnificent feat 
of technology and showmanship". 

4. The first sponsored network program in com- 
patible color television broadcast on November 22, 
1953, featured "The Colgate Comedy Hour" starring 
Donald O'Connor. This telecast was the first of a 
number of premieres scheduled by NBC. 

5. These impressive demonstrations led to another 
history-making colorcast by NBC — the Tournament 
of Roses at Pasadena, California. This event was 
colorcast on New Year's Day through 21 stations, 
which were equipped for colorcasts, while other sta- 
tions in the network presented the pageant in black- 
and-white. 

Said The Neiv York Times: 

"Color television's most exacting test came with the 
NBC's outdoor pickup of the Tournament of Roses. 
All things considered the results were exceedingly good, 
— There was no question that the essence of the parade's 
panorama of color was projected successfully on home 
screens some 3,000 miles away." 

The Daily Neivs noted that the Tournament of 
Roses parade, "picked up by a special NBC mobile color 
unit, the only one of its kind in existence, was the first 
transcontinental colorcast from West to East. It also 



4 RADIO AGE 



went into the books as the first remote (outside the 
studio) program in compatible tints, under the new 
FCC standards and the first network color show carried 
by a series of coast-to-coast stations." 

Television is also extending its usefulness to perform 
new services for business and industry. Television's basic 
function is "extension of human sight ", and wherever 
such applications are needed the TV camera and associ- 
ated equipment are ready for practical use. Wherever 
danger, remoteness or discomfort precluded the presence 
of human observers, the industrial TV camera comes into 
play. 

RCA's light-weight industrial TV equipment using 
the small Vidicon camera tube has led to substantial ex- 
pansions of industrial television, and this field now be- 
comes one of great potential for phenomenal growth, 
not only in factories but for banks, department stores, 
hotels, theatres, lecture halls and auditoriums and even 
for inter-office "sight" communication. 

Rtuito 

Radio broadcasting in 1954 moves into its 34th year 
and during that period has become intimately integrated 
with American life. Naturally, over such a long period 
any service undergoes fundamental changes to keep pace 
with the times, and in the case of radio it has confronted 
television as a new competitive service. 

Nevertheless, radio has continuing economic oppor- 
tunities for it performs where television and other me- 
diums of communication and information do not reach. 
Today there are more than 45 million radio families in 
the United States. There are 26 million automobile 



radios, and many millions of portable sets. In 1953 alone, 
13 million radio sets, including nearly 5 million auto 
radios, were produced. 

Ultimately, the application of transistors should re- 
sult in the advent of pocket radios no larger than a wallet, 
and eventually a watch. This will offer radio new 
opportunities for extended service in programming, en- 
tertainment, information and news. 

Radio Commtiuications 

In the field of radio communications, opening of 
the most powerful radio transmitter in the world 
( 1,200,000 watts) built for the U. S. Navy by RCA at 
Jim Creek Valley in the State of Washington, marked 
an historic milestone in world-wide communication;. 
It demonstrates to a marked degree how teamwork be- 
tween private industry and the military forces con- 
tribues to the nation's welfare and to the leadership of 
the United States in intern .itional communications. 

Magnetic Tape for Sight and Sound 

A new era of "Electronic Photography" was ushered 
in during 1953 when on December 1, RCA demon- 
strated magnetic tape recording of both black-and-white 
and color television. This is a development of great 
significance to the motion picture world as well as tele- 
vision. 

Eventually magnetic tape recording of video signals 
should make it possible for television set owners to 
make their own recordings of television pictures in the 
home. Then they can be "performed" over and over 
through the television receiver just as a phonograph 
record is played at will. Many more new uses will 



"/nfensiVe co/or producfion acfiviiies ore under way 





undoubtedly be developed as means are found for the 
packaging of magnetic tape in low cost cartridges. Elec- 
tronic cameras are in prospect. 

Phonographs and Records 

Phonographs and records reached new levels of popu- 
larity in 1953, and this renaissance may be expected 
to continue in 1954. In 1953 the phonograph-record 
industry as a whole sold more than 238 million disks. 
Major factors that lifted record sales to a new peak in 
1953 were: Increased use of 3-speed turntables; wide 
acceptance of 45-rpm Extended Play recordings, and 
the influence of High Fidelity in generating new interest 
in records and phonographs. 

High Fidelity — a new dimension in sound created 
by the perfect union of recorded music and the modern 
electronized phonograph, gained momentum during 
1953 through a nationwide interest that reflects the 
public's growing interest in music of the highest quality. 
"Hi-Fi", the popular term for High Fidelity, has intro- 
duced a new epoch in music which is bright with 
promise for 1954. 

The Outlook 

As we look ahead into 1954, we have a clearer view 
of the field of science than of economics. Science and 
engineering in 1954 will move forward to new achieve- 
ments. 

Based upon standards of the past, 1954 should be a 



good year for the radio-television electronics industry. 
This does not necessarily mean that new records will be 
made in production and sales. It is more likely that a 
moderate degree of economic adjustment will take place 
in many industries throughout the year. But this can be 
achieved without dislocation of our economy. 

Growing Demand for Radio and TV 

America is still a growing country. Its population, 
annually increasing at the rate of more than 21/2 million, 
continually calls for more and more radio and television 
sets. In 1953 the radio-television industry as a whole 
produced 13 million radio sets, including auto radios, 
and approximately 7,000,000 TV receivers. 

Those who first saw the light of day in 1953 most 
certainly will grow up in an age of color television. 
They will also find tiny personal radios and other small 
but powerful sets made possible by the transistor, far 
different from the large sets used by their grandparents. 

RCA now enters its 35th year dedicated, as in the 
beginning, to pioneering and steadfast in purpose to 
give America preeminence in communications. Pioneer- 
ing, vision and scientific research are vital factors in 
long-range planning. The opportunities ahead for busi- 
ness and industry, for employment, for new and useful 
services to the public are truly great. We will continue 
our efforts to do our part to advance and to merit the 
faith and confidence the American people have in "RCA" 
as an emblem of quality, dependability and progress. 



Sarnojj Commended for "Great Victory" in Compatible Color Television 



Senator Edwin C. Johnson, of Colorado, former 
Chairman and present member of the Interstate 
and Foreign Commerce Committee of the U. S. 
Senate, in a letter to Brig. General David Sarnoff, 
Chairman of the Board of the Radio Corporation 
of America, commends him for the "great victory 
you have won for the American people in getting 
them a compatible system of color TV." The 
complete text of Senator Johnson's letter, dated 
December 31, 1953, follows: 

"Dear General Sarnoff: 

"I must not let 1953 pass into history without 
commending you heartily for the great victory 
you have won for the American people in getting 
for them a compatible system of color TV. You 
spent money like water in the laboratory to de- 
velop this system and you pressed for its adoption 
relentlessly. 

"The scoffers said it could not be done but you 
were not influenced by their pessimism. The 
demands for delay only made you press the harder 



for prompt and forthright action. You faced the 
identical obstacles thrown in the paths of all men 
who have really gotten things done. Columbus 
for instance. Please accept my congratulations for 
a mighty important achievement in the Art of 
Communications. 

Gratefully, 

Ed. C. Johnson" 



Dr. Lee de Forest, inventor of the audion, or 
3-element tube, sent the following message to 
General Sarnoff on January 5, 1954: 

"Highly significant of the glorious future of 
television was the ushering in of the New Year 
with RCA's nation-wide compatible color, a 
magnificent triumph of man's indomitable in- 
genuity and resourcefulness. Sincerest con- 
gratulations to your talented corps of scientists 
for demonstrating this complete vindication of 
your twenty years of courageous foresight. The 
past is but a prelude." 



6 rad;o age 



Folsom Sees Opportunities for Business 
In Current Trend to Buyers' Market 



American merchandising reached a significant turning 
point in 1953, presenting new challenges and opportuni- 
ties for the coming year — a year that can be good for 
business, Frank M. Folsom, President of the Radio Cor- 
poration of America, declared in a year-end statement 
issued on December 30. 

"The new trend in merchandising represents a closer 
approach to normal business operations," said Mr. Fol- 
som. "The 14-year-old sellers' market is gone. Many 
industries are now adjusting their operations to meet the 
demands of a buyers' market. Careful planning and hard 
work are needed to maintain the sales volume developed 
during the years that business enjoyed a sellers' market." 
The changed market condition requires evaluation 
by business leaders, not only along economic lines, but 
in over-all strategy of operations, he asserted, and added: 
"Recognizing these needs, RCA is charting a positive 
course of action to maintain relatively high volume in 
production and sales during 1954." 

Major Steps Being Taken 

Among major steps reported by Mr. Folsom as being 
taken to achieve this aim are: 

1. Reshaping of productive capacity to meet 
changed merchandising trends and to increase 
efficiency so that values of products may be en- 
hanced for the consumer. 

2. Streamlining of operations and selling organiza- 
tions. 

3. Establishment of closer teamwork between re- 
tailers, wholesalers and manufacturers. 

4. Strengthening of distribution system so that con- 
sumer demands in certain areas can be more 
readily met by wholesale outlets nearer to dealers. 

5. More assistance to dealers in building effective 
sales staffs. 

The growing importance of the radio-television in- 
dustry in the progress of America was demonstrated 
convincingly in 1953, Mr. Folsom said. He pointed out 
that new dimensions of television and sound, in par- 
ticular, and the continuing electronic requirements of 
government and military services, provided major areas 
of development and production. 

"Abundant sales opportunities," he said, "are ahead 
in such fields as black-and-white television, compatible 
color television, industrial TV, transistors, high fidelity 



phonograph instruments and records, office and home 
communications systems, radio sets, and electronic equip- 
ment for industry and military uses, as well as the older 
lines of communications apparatus." 

Television — Black-aiid-W'hite and Color 

RCA expects sales of black-and-white television sets 
to continue in the millions, during the orderly introduc- 
tion of compatible color television in 1954, and plans 
to accelerate promotional activities to achieve this, as- 
serted Mr. Folsom, adding: 

"The importance to the public of compatibility in 
television cannot be over-emphasized. It means that 
color programs can be received in black-and-white on 
all existing sets, at no additional cost to set owners, and 
without added devices. Color sets can also receive black- 
and-white programs in black-and-white. " 

RCA commercial planning for color TV made sub- 
stantial progress in 1953, he revealed, stating that pro- 
duction schedules were mapped to provide stations with 
necessary equipment to broadcast network-originated 
color programs in key cities by the end of 1953- Pilot 
production of color components — including the RCA 




One of the most popular home television receivers in 
the RCA Victor line — the "Master 21." 



RADIO AGE 7 




Supermarket methods have widened the market for 
recordings. Photo shows self-service store in Hollywood. 

tricolor tube — was underway. Pilot production of RCA 
Victor compatible color receivers was begun. 

In regard to the servicing of television, Mr. Folsom 
said that the RCA Service Company, "in addition to the 
superlative job of installing hundreds of thousands of 
television home receivers in 1953," continued to pro- 
mote high standards of television service in its own 
branches and cooperated with independent service organ- 
izations which share this objective. Special service clinics 
were devoted to UHF (ultra high frequency ) installation 
and service in 93 cities with more than 10,000 inde- 
pendent technicians in attendance. 

Additiouiil Sales Poteiitiiih 

Mr. Folsom stated that the phonograph and record 
industry is expected to continue its impressive growth 
in 1954 with a 10% rise in record sales — on top of a 
12% increase in 1953, expected to push industry volume 
past the $250 million mark. 

He said the chief factors in the increase of record 
sales are notable improvements in both the making of 
records and their presentation to the public, the intro- 
duction of high fidelity sound recording and reproduc- 
tion highlighting the advances. 

In the recording field, Mr. Folsom pointed out that 



the introduction by RCA Victor of 45-rpm Extended 
Play recordings provided means for ofl^ering shorter 
classical selections and new couplings of popular music. 
Industry production of "EP" recordings exceeded the 
10,000,000-disc mark in the first twelve months, he 
added. In record merchandising, the trend toward 
"super market" or self service record stores has meant a 
wider market, he said, adding that "evolution of the 
retail outlet from a library-type operation to a 'super 
market' using island displays for pop singles and point- 
of-purchase salespower of album art and liner material 
has made new customers and bigger customers of old 
record buyers." 

He reported that sales of radio sets — the "hardy 
petennial" of home entertainment — continued good in 
1953 with industry production of 13 million new sets 
establishing an all-time high of 115 million radios now 
in use in America. 

A new magnetic sound tape recorder, developed by 
RCA for non-professional use, also is proving attractive 
to customers, he reported, and listed RCA home air- 
conditioners and RCA Estate Ranges as other new prod- 
ucts that are establishing themselves in the matket. 

Folsom Honored At Dinner 

On lOrh Anniversary With RCA 

Frank M. Folsom, President of RCA, was honored 
on December 14 at a dinner given by Brig. General 
David Sarnoflf, Chairman of the Board of RCA, to com- 
memotate the tenth anniversary of Mr. Folsom's asso- 
ciation with the corporation. 

The dinner, held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in 
New York, was attended by 375 leaders in the fields of 
radio, television, publishing, business, industry, finance 
and the military setvices. At the head table, with General 
Sarnoff, Mr. Folsom and Francis Cardinal Spellman, were 
the Directors of RCA. 

In paying tribute to Mr. Folsom, General SarnofI 
spoke of the close teamwork between Mr. Folsom and 
himself, saying, "Of all the things I've tried to do in 
RCA during a long period of years — I am now in the 
forty-eighth year of my service in radio — I know of 
nothing of which I am as proud as I am of the selection 
I made of Frank Folsom for President of RCA." 

Mr. Folsom joined RCA on January 1, 1944, as a 
Director and Vice President in Charge of the RCA 
Victor Division, after thirty years in merchandising and 
two years as head of the procurement branch of the 
U. S. Navy. He was named President of RCA in De- 
cember, 1948, on the recommendation of General Sar- 
noff, whom he succeeded in the position. 



8 RAD/O AGE 




Joseph B. Elliott 



W. Walter Watts 



Dr. Elmer W. Engstrom 



Charles M. Odorizzi 



Four Executives of RCA Are Promoted 

EUtott, Watts, Engstrom jiui Odorizzi Elevated to Executive Vice-Presidents 
in Move to Keep Pace with Continued Growth of Corporation's Business 



Promotions and organizational realignments in the 
Radio Corporation of America were announced in a 
joint statement issued on January 8 by David Sarnoff, 
Chairman of the Board and Frank M. Folsom, President. 
Four RCA Vice-Presidents were elevated to the position 
of Executive Vice-Presidents who will be in charge of 
their respective operations. 

The organizational changes included the creation of 
a new Consumer Products Division, a new Electronic 
Products Division and a consolidation of staff functions 
for the entire Corporation. Present Divisions engaged 
in other activities of the Corporation continue as before. 

The announcement stated that the promotions and 
organizational realignments would become effective im- 
mediately. 

Joseph B. Elliott was promoted to Executive Vice- 
President in charge of Consumer Products Division. 

W. Walter Watts was promoted to Executive Vice- 
President in charge of Electronic Products Division. 

Dr. Elmer W. Engstrom was promoted to Executive 
Vice-President in charge of the RCA Laboratories 
Division. 

Charles M. Odorizzi was promoted to Executive 
Vice-President in charge of a newly consolidated corpo- 
rate staff serving all units and subsidiaries of the RCA. 

The headquarters of Messrs. Elliott, Watts and Odor- 
izzi will be at the RCA Executive Offices in the RCA 
Building, Radio City, New York. Dr. Engstrom's head- 
quarters continue at the David Sarnoff Research Center 
of RCA, Princeton, New Jersey. 

In their announcement. General Sarnoff and Mr. 



Folsom said: "These organizational changes and pro- 
motions are made to keep pace with the continued 
growth of the Corporation's business. In the last fifteen 
years, RCA sales have increased eight-fold and the 
number of employees has trebled to more than 65,000. 

"In the television, radio and phonograph fields, RCA 
products and services continue to expand. In the home 
appliance field, sales of our air conditioners and ranges 
are also on the increase. Our production of military 
communication and electronic apparatus is at new high 
levels. The new and promising fields of color television, 
industrial television, and magnetic tape recording of 
sound and pictures are well under way. 

"The promotion of these experienced and able exec- 
utives to their new positions of increased responsibility 
and authority is designed to meet the needs of a steadily 
growing business in a constantly changing art and in- 
dustry." 

Hagerty Named to NBC Board 

Election of Harry C. Hagerty as a member of the 
Board of Directors of the National Broadcasting Com- 
pany and promotion of three NBC executives has been 
announced. In addition, three officials of the RCA 
Laboratories Division were appointed to new positions. 

Mr. Hagerty, Financial Vice-President of the Metro- 
politan Life Insurance Company and a member of the 
RCA Board of Directors, was elected to the NBC Board 
of Directors during January. He fills the vacancy on 

(continued on page 28) 



RADIO AGE 9 



FCC Approval of Compatible Color Standards 
Launches RCA and NBC "Introductory Year" 

Comprehensive Programming, Production, Training Schedules Are Announced; 
Network Broadcast January 1 Highhghts First Series of Programs 



The opening of the color television era, launched 
on December 17 by approval of the Federal Communi- 
cations Commission of standards for the compatible 
system pioneered and developed by RCA, put into 
practice the widespread programming, production and 
training plans prepared and rehearsed during 1953 by 
RCA and the National Broadcasting Company. 

For NBC, the FCC decision opened the "Introduc- 
tory Year" plan under which each of the network's 
major programs will be done at least once in color and 
a number of special events will be covered by color 
cameras for the nationwide audience. For RCA Victor 
Division, it gave impetus to production of both broad- 
casting and home receiving color equipment, and to 
extensive plans for training television manufacturing 
and service personnel of RCA, its licensees and its 
dealers in the techniques of color. 

Within minutes of the FCC action on December 
17, NBC went on the air with a network color signal — 
a multi-color slide reading "Color News Bulletin," and 
an announcer said: "Attention, please! Color television 
is here. You are looking at the first color picture tele- 
cast since compatible standards for color television were 
approved." 

Assembly of RCA color TV cameras at Camden, N. J. 




A short time later, NBC presented a special color 
broadcast featuring a statement by Brig. General David 
Sarnoflf, Chairman of the Board of RCA, who was intro- 
duced by Sylvester L. Weaver, Jr., President of NBC. 
From the stage of the Colonial Theatre, the world's first 
fully equipped color television studio, Mr. Weaver ap- 
peared before the RCA color cameras and took the 
audience on a brief tour of the theatre's facilities. 

First Sponsored Color Program 

From the same stage three days later, on Decem- 
ber 20, came the first sponsored color broadcast follow- 
ing the FCC decision — NBC's famed presentation of 
the Gian-Carlo Menotti Christmas opera, "Amahl and 
the Night Visitors." This was the second operatic pro- 
duction to be telecast in color from the Colonial Thea- 
tre; Bizet's "Carmen," the first major opera presented 
in the new medium, was broadcast in a one-hour ver- 
sion in color on October 31 under temporary experi- 
mental authorization from the FCC. Thanks to the 
compatibility of the RCA color system, both produc- 
tions were seen in high quality black-and-white on the 
nation's millions of monochrome receivers. 

Following the Menotti opera broadcast, "Season's 
Greetings," a variety show featuring leading NBC stars, 
was presented in color on December 22. And on New 
Year's Day, NBC color cameras, operating from a two- 
truck custom-built color mobile unit, covered the Tour- 
nament of Roses parade in Pasadena in the first West 
Coast origination of a color program and the first trans- 
continental West-to-East transmission. The first coast- 
to-coast color broadcast in either direction was trans- 
mitted by RCA and NBC on November 3 over a closed 
circuit from New York to Burbank, California. Color 
film also was transmitted for the first time by television 
on this occasion. 

The Pasadena broadcast also was the first network 
color program handled by a coast-to-coast series of sta- 
tions using special equipment for broadcasting a true 
color signal — and behind this fact lies the story of a 
remarkable production and delivery program carried out 
by the RCA Victor Division to equip stations in major 



cities across the country for color reception and trans- 
mission in time for tlie January 1 program. 

To meet the deadline, the special production unit 
at the RCA Engineering Products Department in 
Camden, N. J., worked on a 24-hour schedule seven 
days a week to turn out the stabilizing ampliiiers, color 
monitors, phase correction networks and other items 
required by the stations to handle programs received 
over telephone circuits. The first shipment, covering 
the requirements of five stations, left the factory on 
November 30. 

Planes Rush Station Equipment 

As fast as equipment was completed and tested at 
Camden, it was trucked to Philadelphia's International 
Airport for shipment by air express to the stations. 
Five crews of specially trained technicians from the 
RCA Service Company, travelling by air, kept pace with 
the delivery schedule, calling at each station to supervise 
installation soon after the broadcast equipment had 
arrived. 

At the same time, other technicians trained in color 
equipment courses given by the Service Company were 
assigned to install monitors in broadcast stations and 
telephone company locations where the program was to 
be taken off the network. This group also installed the 
pre-production model color receivers in distributors' 



headquarters, as well as the sets supplied by NBC to 
stations handling the program. 

Indicative of the scope of the operation is the fact 
that color equipment was installed by January 1 in Los 
Angeles, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Denver, Omaha, 
Mmneapolis, Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Cleveland, 
Cmcinnati, Toledo, Detroit, Philadelphia, Washington, 
Wilmington, Baltimore, New York, Wilkes-Barre, 
Johnstown, Pa., and New Haven. 

Plans for the production of color receivers for the 
home also moved ahead with the announcement of the 
FCC decision. Initial output of RCA tri-color tubes 
proceeded from the pilot production line established in 
the RCA tube plant at Lancaster, Pa., where tubes for 
test and demonstration purposes had been turned out 
during 1953. At the Bloomington, Ind., plant of RCA 
Victor's Home Instrument Department, production of 
home receivers also moved ahead on a pilot basis. At 
the same time, production specialists advanced provi- 
sions to expand tri-color tube output into existing black- 
and-white kinescope production facilities as the demand 
for the color tubes increases beyond the 2,000 per month 
expected of the pilot line at Lancaster. 

Training Plans For Service Industry 

The official start of color television broadcasting 
brought with it the announcement of further plans by 



Black-and-Whire Television Has 
Assured Future, Elliott Says 

By J. B. Elliott 

Executive Vice President in Charge of 
Consumer Products Division, 
Radio Corporation of America 

Now that the Federal Communications Com- 
mission has given the official "green light" for 
compatible color television, more and more people 
are asking: "What is going to happen to black- 
and-white television?" 

The answer is simple. 

For years to come, all stations and networks 
will continue to broadcast many of their top pro- 
grams in black-and-white; manufacturers will con- 
tinue to produce technically improved black-and- 
white sets and millions of persons will buy new 
black-and-white sets to bring the marvel of tele- 
vision into an ever expanding number of homes. 

The progressive action of the Federal Com- 



munications Commission in approvmg standards 
for compatible color will serve as a guaranty that 
the adoption of color will not make obsolete any 
of the more than 27 million black-and-white sets 
now in use in American homes. It also assures 
today's purchaser of a black-and-white set that 
colorcasts will not affect the usefulness of his new 
receiver. With the RCA system of compatible 
color, programs broadcast in color can be received 
on black-and-white sets as black-and-white pro- 
grams without any changes whatever in the re- 
ceivers. 

In terms of screen size, picture quality, cabinet 
styling, and all-around technical performance, 
black-and-white receivers today offer the greatest 
values in television history. 

The Consumer Products Division of the Radio 
Corporation of America, as it has since the birth 
of all-electronic television, will continue to manu- 
facture the finest black-and-white receivers on the 
market ■ — • just as it will produce the finest color 
sets to be available in the months and years ahead. 



RADIO AGE 7 J 




iiif iNbv^ iiMLjii. lolor unit, used for the first time on 
Jan. 1 for colorcast of the Tournament of Roses parade. 



RCA to make available to the servicing industry all 
needed information on the installation and servicing of 
color equipment. 

The policy of sharing RCA know-how on the broad- 
est basis took several forms during 1953 prior to the 
FCC decision. In July, licensed tube manufacturers re- 
ceived full information on the RCA tri-color tube, and 
in October the full design and performance details of 
RCA's basic color receiver were giver to 250 industry 
representatives at a symposium in New York. The RCA 
Victor Tube Department also made available to equip- 
ment manufacturers special color television kits contain- 
ing more than 20 special developmental tubes and 
components, including the RCA tri-color tube. 

In addition, the RCA Victor Division held techni- 
cal seminars in Camden for broadcast engineering con- 
sultants to help prepare broadcasters for the handling 
of color programs. The RCA Service Company, con- 
tinuing during the year to develop and refine test 
equipment and servicing techniques, provided techni- 
cal assistance to television stations in the installation 
and checking of the equipment for handling network 
color broadcasts, and trained additional engineers to 
meet future demands for this type of service. 

In the broadcasting field, NBC conducted an indoc- 
trination program to give personnel from affiliated 
stations the benefit of experience in the color program- 
ming and technical fields. 

Clinics To Be Held Through 1954 

The plans for 1954, designed to cover the servicing 
field, were announced by RCA on December 22. The 
program comprises color television servicing clinics for 
RCA receiving set licensees, RCA distributors and TV 
service technicians, beginning early in 1954 and con- 
tinuing through most of the year. 



The first clinics, consisting of four days of intensive 
instruction and demonstration, will be held for the 
licensees, it was announced by E. C. Anderson, Vice 
President in Charge of the RCA Commercial Depart- 
ment. For the convenience of set manufacturers, the 
same clinics will be held in each of three cities begin- 
ning in New York on January 11, followed by Chicago 
on January 25 and Los Angeles on February 28. Each 
of the clinics will involve a total of 28 hours of instruc- 
tion, presented by lecturers of the RCA Service Com- 
pany. The subject matter has been designed to provide 
basic color information for service technicians already 
acquainted with black-and-white television, with the 
curriculum covering color theory, color signals, basic 
circuitry, components and adjustments. 

The industry-wide training and educational pro- 
gram for TV service technicians, supplementing the 
program for licensees and distributors, was announced 
by Edward C. CahiU, President of the RCA Service 
Company. The principal phase is a series of two-day 
clinics to be held in 65 cities across the country, start- 
ing early in February. Technical specialists of the RCA 
Service Company, using textbooks, test equipment and 
other instructional materials developed especially for 
these clinics by the Company, will conduct the courses, 
to which service dealers and servicemen in each city 
will be invited. 

The Service Company also has prepared a compre- 
hensive textbook, "Practical Color Television for the 
Service Industry," based on the experience of more than 
5 years in research, development and field testing of 
color receiving and broadcasting equipment by various 
departments of RCA. Copies will be made available to 
servicemen completing the clinics, and will also be dis- 
tributed through RCA parts and tube distributors or 
directly from the RCA Service Company in Camden at 
$2 a copy. 

Mr. Cahill also disclosed that a new type of test 
equipment for use with color television sets has been 
installed in RCA factory service branches in areas where 
color television will be received. Called the color sig- 
nal stimulator, the equipment is essential for the proper 
phasing and alignment of color sets. 

Another phase of training, a color television home 
study course for technicians of the electronics industry, 
was announced by George F. Maedel, President of the 
RCA Institutes, Inc. The course, in nine lessons, covers 
all phases in the principles and servicing of color re- 
ceivers, based on material prepared by the Service Com- 
pany for the over-all color training program. Mr. Mae- 
del said that a bulletin describing the course in detail 
may be obtained from the Home Study Department of 
RCA Institutes at 350 West 4th Street, New York 14. 



72 RADIO AGE 



Magnetic Tape Recording of Television 
Pictures Demonstrated by RCA 

Color and Black-cjmi-Wbite Video Programs Reproduced nith Device 
Hailed as ALij'or Step toward Netv Era of ''Electronic Photography'' 



V_^OLOR and black-and-white television pictures were 
recorded on magnetic tape and played back over color 
television receivers at the David Sarnoff Research Center 
of RCA in Princeton, N. J., on Dec. 1 in the first public 
demonstration of new techniques that will simplify the 
art of making motion pictures. 

The achievement was described by Brig. General 
David Sarnoff, Chairman of the Board of RCA, as the 
first major step into an era of "electronic photography," 
in which motion pictures in color or black-and-white 
will be produced quickly and economically, without the 
need for photographic development or processing. 

The revolutionary device, which records the sight of 
television by a method basically similar to the tape re- 
cording of sound, is the answer by RCA scientists and 
research men to the first of three requests made by Gen- 
eral Sarnoff two years ago, on the occasion of his forty- 
fifth anniversary of service in radio. At that time, he 
asked for a video tape recorder, an inexpensive electronic 
air-conditioner without moving parts, and a true ampli- 
fier of light. Research is in progress on the second two 
items, and the successful development of the first was 
proven in the Dec. 1 demonstration to newsmen and 
leaders in the fields of motion pictures, broadcasting and 
electronics. 

In the demonstration, a color television program 
originating in Studio 3H of the National Broadcasting 
Company in Radio City, New York, was beamed by 
radio microwave across the 45 -mile span to the Princeton 
research center. As the program arrived, it was seen on 
two RCA color television receivers. 

Picture and Sound on Single Tape 

At the same instant, the new video tape recorder 
recorded the television picture and the sound on a single 
strip of magnetically coated plastic tape as thin as paper 
and one-half inch in width. During part of this trans- 



The developmental model of the television tape recorder 

is checked at RCA's Princeton laboratories by Dr. Harry 

F. Olson, right, and W. D. Houghton. 



mission, both the live program and an immediate play- 
back of the tape recording were shown, permitting direct 
comparison of the recorded program on one receiver 
with the live broadcast being received on the other. 

As soon as the tape reel was rewound, it was played 
back, and the recorded television pictures appeared on the 
two receivers. In an earlier phase of the demonstration, 
the guests had viewed both black-and-white and colot 
programs previously recorded on the magnetic tape. 

The same apparatus handled both the recording and 
playback of the tape for both the color and the black- 
and-white tests. This relatively compact experimental 
equipment was developed by a seven-man team of RCA 
research engineers including Dr. Harry F. Olson and 
William D. Houghton, who head the development pro- 
gram, and Maurice Artzt, J. T. Fischer, A. R. Morgan, 
J. G. Woodward and Joseph Zenel. 




RCA TAPE METHOD 



RECORDING HEAD PUTS 
PICTURE AND SOUND 
SIGNALS ON ONE TAPE 



TV TAPE 
RECORDER- 
REPRODUCER 



REPRODUCING HEAD 
PICKS UP SIGNALS 
FOR IMMEDIATE 
MONITORING OF TAPE 



Diagrammatic comparison of RCA tape 
and ordinary film methods shows steps 
eliminated by use of tape in recording 
color or black-and-white television pro- 
grams for later re-broadcast. 




PRINT MADE 
AND SOUND 
TRACK ADDED 



RECORDING 



REPRODUCING 
HEAD TAKES 
PICTURE AND 
SOUND SIGNALS 
OFF TAPE 




SPECIAL TV CAMERA 
RECREATES PICTURE 
AND SOUND SIGNALS 
FROM PROJECTED FILM 



REPRODUCING 



To the guests at the demonstration, General Sarnoff 
said; 

"Magnetic tape recording of television programs as 
shown today has great possibilities first for television 
broadcasting and, later, for national defense, for the 
motion picture and theater industry, for industry in gen- 
eral, for education and for home entertainment. 

"While this electronic video tape equipment is still 
in the developmental stage, the basic principles and 
principal elements of our system have been tested and 
confirmed. We are confident that it is only a matter of 
time, perhaps two years, before the finishing touches will 
bring the system to commercial reality. 

"It is essential for the future of the television art 
that video tape recording be introduced to give the tele- 
vision industry a practical, low-cost solution to program 
recording, immediate playback, and rapid distribution. 
Video tape will be important for black-and-white broad- 
casting; it will be essential in the creation of a full color 
television service. 

"According to our present estimates, the cost of re- 
cording a color television program on magnetic tape 
would be only five percent of what it would cost to put 
it on color film, since the tape can be reused." 



The Advantages of Tape 

Summarizing the advantages of the tape recording 
method over conventional film methods now in use by 
the television industry, General Sarnoff emphasized that 
the tape, unlike film, requires no processing, but that 
the pictures can be used the instant they are taken, can 
be preserved indefinitely for reference use or can be 
electronically erased, permitting repeated reuse of the 
same tape. 

"With further development of video tape techniques, 
numerous possibilities will open up," he added. "Small 
portable television cameras are already in wide use in 
industry, in stores, in banks, in schools and colleges. Low- 
cost television cameras that work like satellites off home 
television receivers are ultimately possible. Eventually, 
low-cost video tape equipment of simpler and more 
compact design than the studio-type equipment shown 
today can be made available as attachments for these 
cameras. 

"The all-electronic chain of portable television cam- 
era, video tape recorder and standard television receiver 
would make a convenient and versatile system for making 
amateur as well as professional motion pictures. It will 
speed the preparation of newsreels and will be a useful 



14 RADIO AGE 



tool for ntws reporters. The tape would not have to be 
sent away for processing with its attendant delays and 
extra costs. In the home, the tape equipment could be 
used for home movies or connected to the television set 
to make personal recordings of favorite television pro- 
grams." 

The primary reason for development of tlie video 
tape recording process is to promote the advancement of 
color television, Dr. E. W. Engstrom, Executive Vice 
President in Charge of RCA Laboratories Division, told 
the guests. U^e of the tape in color television, he said, 
will eliminate the "substantial" time lag involved in 
processing color film for television use and will prove 
far less expensive. 

When a television program is recorded by kinescope 
recording methods, the pictures pass from the television 
camera through most of the television system to be re- 
produced on a small kinescope. A special motion picture 
camera then photographs the program on motion picture 
film. The film must be chemically processed and, usu- 
ally, a print made before the picture can be reproduced. 
The reproduction requires another installation in which 
a television camera picks up the scene from a motion 
picture projector for rebroadcast. 

Film Method Called Costly 

"The current kinescope recording process is a round- 
about and costly approach," Dr. Engstrom said. "It is 
time-consuming, with film processing time running to 




The recording head, which puts signals on tape and 
provides for video pickup, is held by Joseph Zenel. 



several hours in most cases. And the quality may be 
limited, since the pictures must encounter all the hazards 
of both the television system and the photographic 
process. 

"In going from the electrical signals of the camera to 
the signals for rebroadcast by a television transmitter, 
kinescope recording requires four separate intermediate 
pictures to be formed, two by television and two photo- 
graphically. There is no fundamental need for these 
intermediate steps. 

"Magnetic tape recording, in contrast, stores the elec- 
trical signals directly as they come from the television 
camera. No processing, electronic or photographic, is 
necessary before the tape is played back. A single com- 
pact piece of equipment, which handles both recording 
and reproduction, will do the job of two complex installa- 
tions needed with photographic methods." 

Comparative estimates of operating costs, including 
payroll, cost of tape or film and amortization of equip- 
ment, are highly favorable to tape methods. Although 
magnetic tape today costs more per minute of program 
time than 35 mm color film, the fact that tape needs no 
processing before playback compensates for the expense 
of raw tape. What makes the savings on tape so great, 
according to the engineers, is the fact that the program 
can be electronically "wiped off" and the tape reused, as 
in present-day sound tape recording. In most normal 
operations it would be reused many times. 

Recording black-and-white programs on film is esti- 
mated to be at least five times as costly as it would be 
on 14 -inch magnetic tape, assuming that the tape would 
be reused many times. In making copies for distribution 
to television stations, a half-hour program could be taped 
for less than $15 per copy, provided the tape is reused 
many times. (These figures, of course, refer only to the 
cost of producing the recorded tape, and not to the cost 
of the program. ) 

Even greater economies are estimated for making the 
original tape recording of color television programs, 
which under normal operating circumstances could be 
handled for only five percent of the cost entailed in color 
film recording. In making copies on tape that is to be 
used over and over again, a tape recording of a half-hour 
color program would cost roughly $20. 

How Video Tape Works 
RCA's method of video recording is similar, in basic 
respects, to the techniques used to record speech and 
music with present-day magnetic tape sound equipment. 
Electrical signals are impressed through a recording head 
— a small horseshoe electro-magnet — onto the magnet- 
ically treated surface of a plastic tape. As the tape is 
drawn across the recording head, the head continuously 
(Continued on page 32) 



RADIO AGE 15 



RCA Patent Licenses and Royalties 

Statement Outlining Corporations Policies Made by General Sanwff before 
New York Society of Security Analysts 



Brig. General David Sarnoff, Chairman of the Board 
of RCA, discussed RCA's patent licensing and royalty 
policies for the New York Society of Security Analysts at 
a luncheon on December 14, 1953. Following is the 
text of his statement: 

I have been told that you are much interested in the 
subject of Patent Licensing and income from Royalties. 
For this reason I am glad to give you the facts as I know 
them. 

Thete has been a lot of talk by some uninformed 
people that RCA nets about 20 to 25 million dollars a 
year in patent royalties. Of course I wish this were true, 
but let me tell you very frankly that it's the bunk. 

In the seven years from 1947 to 1953 our net income 
from royalties, after deducting costs and expenditures 
incurred in connection with carrying on the fundamental 
research work of the RCA Laboratories Division alone, 
averaged less than three and a half million dollars a 
year. In 1953, it will be less than two and a half million. 

Further — and this, too, is important — in addition to 
the expenses of the fundamental research carried on by 
the Laboratories Division, very substantial amounts are 
expended for applied research and development work, 
by other divisions and subsidiaries of RCA. 

Research and development are the life-blood of our 
business, as they are of many other businesses. To keep 
this blood in healthy circulation, necessarily costs a lot of 
money. For example, in order to create the great tele- 
vision industry which exists today, RCA invested more 
than fifty million dollars in research and development of 
black-and-white television before it made a dime of 
profit. Before the end of next year we will have spent 
more than thirty million dollars in research and develop- 
ment of color television. And we cannot possibly hope 
to make a dime on color TV in the first year of its life. 

Research Fundamental to RCA 

It is fundamental RCA policy to continue to spend 
substantial sums on research and development of new 
products. For that reason, a substantial amount of our 
money has gone in the past, and will continue to go in 
the future, into research and development work. 

At the RCA Laboratories in Princeton, where the 



major part of our fundamental research takes place, we 
have three hundred engineers and scientists of the high- 
est competence and reputation. Working alongside them 
is a large staff. Altogether we have a total of more than 
one thousand people employed at the Princeton Labora- 
tories alone. In addition, there are 2200 scientists and 
engineers, with a large supporting staff, at the manu- 
facturing plants of the RCA Victor Division. Other 
divisions of RCA — such as Communications and Broad- 
casting — also have extensive scientific and engineering 
personnel. All this involves a very substantial expendi- 
ture. But it represents the best prospects for our future 
and the future of the entire industry. We firmly believe 
it is money well spent. 

Recently there has been some talk about the law 
suit brought by General Electric and Westinghouse with 
respect to our sublicensing rights under their patents. 
As you analysts who are familiar with this subject know, 
RCA grants licenses to the industry under its own in- 
ventions in what we refer to as the radio and electronics 
field, as well as under the inventions of the Telephone 
Company, the General Electric Company, and the West- 
inghouse Company. 

The General Electric Company and the Westing- 
house Company have recently taken the position that 
RCA's right to license under inventions made prior to 
December 31, 1954 — what we call sublicensing rights — 
expires December 31, 1954. The Telephone Company 
does not take that position. 

Facts of the Case 

RCA does not agree with the position taken by the 
G. E. and Westinghouse Companies. The argument in 
this case took place about six weeks ago before the Dis- 
trict Court in Delaware. No decision has yet been 
handed down by the Court. Therefore, it would not be 
appropriate for me, at this time, to speculate on what 
the decision will be. 

However, without arguing the pending case I can teli 
you certain facts concerning it, and these are Important: 

First, no matter what the outcome of the case may 
be, no question has been raised as to the fact that both 
GE and Westinghouse are required to continue to pay 
(Continued on page 28) 



16 RADIO AGE 



World's Most Powerful Radio Transmitter^ 
Built for Navy by RCA^ is Dedicated 



A 



RADIO message flashing from a giant antenna 
strung across a deep valley in the Cascade Mountains of 
Washington State circled the world on November 17, 
1953, to bring all of the far-flung elements of the United 
States Navy within direct and instant reach of their 
homeland. 

The historic message signalled the entry into the 
nation's service of the most powerful radio transmitter 
ever built — a 1,200,000-watt station erected by the 
Radio Corporation of America for the U. S. Navy in the 
remote Jim Creek Valley some 55 miles northeast of 
Seattle. Tapped out in wireless code by Brig. General 
David Sarnoff, Chairman of the Board of RCA, the dedi- 
cation message as dictated by Admiral Robert B. Carney, 
Chief of Naval Operations, gave dramatic proof of the 
station's power as it penetrated to vessels in distant seas 
and to shore stations on the five continents. 




Brig. General David Sarnoff taps out first message from 

Jim Creek to naval units around the world as Admiral 

Robert B. Carney looks on. 



'"With this first message we forge another link be- 
tween you and your homeland," Admiral Carney told the 
scattered units. "With it, we build a new security chan- 
nel from America to the naval units which form its outer 
ramparts of defense." 

Six minutes later the acknowledgments began to re- 
turn, some of them relayed four or five stages to reach 
Jim Creek Valley. The first came from the battleship 
Wisconsin, operating off Japan. Then came word from 
the carrier Yorktown, the destroyer Vloyd B. Parks and 
the submarine Bluegill in the western Pacific; the sub- 
marine Sahlewish in the North Atlantic and the cruiser 
Pittsburgh in the South Atlantic; the carrier Tarawa in 
the Mediterranean and the destroyer Charles S. Sperry in 
Florida waters. 

As the replies arrived, Admiral Carney and General 
Sarnoff plotted the location of the units on a world map 
set up for the ceremony at the transmitter site. Along 
with the acknowledgments from the naval units, RCA 
Communications relayed word of receipt of the message 
at distant locations in its 65-n:tion radio circuit and 
aboard passenger liners at sea. 

Project Took Six Years To Cotnplete 

The ceremony marked formal acceptance of the 
powerful transmitter by the Navy from RCA, whose 
engineers and communications experts had worked for 
six years with Navy engineers to complete the 
$14,000,000 project. The result of their labor, put to its 
first test with the initial message, is a transmitter at least 
twenty-two times more powerful than the strongest com- 
mercial station in the country, emanating a very low 
frequency CVLF) signal capable of penetrating the 
magnetic disturbances that interrupt higher frequency 
communications and able even to reach through water 
to make contact with submarines cruising below the 
surface. 

Turning the installation over to Admiral Carney, 
General Sarnoff said: 

"No branch of the armed services has been more 
closely associated with RCA than the Navy; none has 
teamed with us more intimately in devising and produc- 
ing electronic implements of defense. None, certainly, 
has based its existence more completely on the science 
of communications, which we pursue. 



rad;o age 17 




Drawing shows arrangement of antenna spanning Jim 

Creek Valley between high ridges on either side. Map 

locates the giant transmitter in the Cascade Mountains 

about 55 miles northeast of Seattle. 



;JIM CREEK 



"A scroll of our joint ventures would unfold a tri- 
umphant story of the electron harnessed to the service 
of the nation. For more than forty years, we have labored 
together to produce the radio, sound and electronic 
equipment that gives the Navy cohesion and mobility. 
We have demonstrated to a unique degree how team- 
work between private industry and the military forces 
contributes to the nation's welfare." 

Reviewing past highlights of RCA-Navy partnership 
in developing and producing electronic equipment, Gen- 
eral SarnofT mentioned the first modern shipboard radio 
receivers for the Navy, direction finders, radio transmit- 
ters, diversity reception for ship to shore use, homing 
devices for planes returning to the mother ship, ship- 
board radar, radio altimeters for Navy patrol and torpedo 
bombers, one phase of loran, the analogue computer that 
simulates test runs of guided missiles, and the new 
combat information center materials with which naval 
units are being equipped. 

Recalls Navy Helped Found RCA 

He recalled that the Navy, "more than any other 
organization in or out of government, gave us being" by 
insisting upon the establishment after World War I of 
an American radio communications company — an in- 
sistence that resulted in the formation in 1919 of RCA 



with the mission of setting up a world-wide wireless 
communication network. 

"Of course, our company has branched into othei 
fields, finding new applications in radio, television and 
associated electronic arts," General Sarnoff said. "But it 
has — as this monument of stone and steel and copper 
testifies — remained faithful to that original radio wire- 
less trust." 

He added that the giant transmitter is "an enduring 
testimonial to teamwork" symbolized by the 175 business 
firms that supplied RCA with parts and components for 
the project. 

"They deserve high commendation for their part in 
a job well done — a job that typifies American indus- 
try's teamwork with the armed forces," he said. 

Presenting Admiral Carney with the keys to the 
control panels of the transmitter. General Sarnoff said: 

"1 turn over to you, on behalf of the Radio Corpora- 
tion of America, the most powerful radio transmitter 
ever built. May I express the wish, which I know all in 
our armed forces share, that this powerful instrument for 
transmitting intelligence, may add to our national secur- 
ity and to the peace of the world." 

Admiral Carney, accepting the installation for the 
Navy, spoke of the close liaison between the armed serv- 



18 RADIO AGE 




View from one of the towers connecting the antenna 
with the transmitter shows the transmitter building 
nestled in the narrow valley on the bank of Jim Creek. 

ices and private industry in meeting the complex require- 
ments of national security. 

"This great installation at Jim Creek is the newest of 
RCA's answers to our requirements and is a most elo- 
quent testimonial to the fact that America's great strength 
lies in the wedded efforts of all elements of our popula- 
tion," he said. "It is a strength built up of the closely 
knit sum of industrial, economic and military potentials 
which are welded together by a common objective and a 
common determination to achieve great national team- 
work." 

He emphasized the importance of the great trans- 
mitter in an era when nuclear power for ships promised 
to become a reality. Such ships would be able to remain 
at sea for long periods, indicating "an increasing need 
for the use of effective radio in directing our tremendous 
and complicated maritime operations," he said. Refer- 
ring to the ability of the transmitter to communicate 
through water as well as air, he added that "we must be 
able to talk not only to ships on the surface, but we 
must also be able to communicate with the elusive sub- 
marine and with the planes on their sundry missions in 
the air." 

Rear Admiral W. B. Ammon, Director of Naval 
Communications, explained that the need for the un- 
precedentedly powerful transmitter had emerged after 
World War II with recognition that the naval com- 
munications system was inadequate to support world- 



wide naval operations in time of peace. Since many 
ships, such as submarines and smaller surface craft are 
unable to carry extensive antenna systems, he said, 
"reliance must be placed on powerful transmissions to 
overcome this handicap and to make sure that any forces 
operating independently or submarines on war patrol 
receive combat orders and information promptly." The 
requirements could be best met by a powerful very low 
frequency broadcast, requiring large and complicated 
equipment, he said — and the result was the beginning 
of the Jim Creek project. 

Greater Developments Predicted 

Even as the giant transmitter went into operation at 
the highest power level ever employed in radio com- 
munication. General Sarnofif cautioned against any incli- 
nation to regard it as the ultimate in communications. 
More powerful transmitters may yet be built, and better 
means will be discovered to communicate with the fleet, 
he said. 

"When we look at this big structure, we must remem- 
ber that while its skeleton is concrete, steel and copper, 
its heart is the electron — the tiniest thing in the uni- 
verse," General Sarnoff said. "For forty-seven years I 
have lived with the electron, and my experience points 
to one conclusion: great as the electron's achievements 
have been, we are still in the horse and buggy era of its 
development. It is not difficult to visualize the day when 
the electron will carry sight as well as sound to our 
armed forces around the world." 

Already we possess the scientific knowledge to make 
television world-wide, he said. It is technically possible 
to circle the globe with a land chain of microwave reliy 
towers, to equip aircraft with relay equipment to form 
an aerial bridge across an ocean and to lay coaxial cable 
across the ocean floors to carry both sight and sound 
internationally. And such advances, he said, "will lead 
to new uses of the electron for military as well as com- 
mercial purposes." 

Details of the Installation 

The background of the dedication ceremony, attended 
by about 200 naval. Industrial and governmental leaders, 
was a squat, concrete building nestling in the deep valley 
between steep slopes and roofed by a web of antenna 
slung between the ridges looming 2700 feet above the 
valley floor on the north and south. 

The entire assembly — known already to Navy com- 
munications men as "Big Jim" — is the answer to a set 
of requirements determined by the Navy's Bureau of 
Ships and specified in a contract signed with RCA in 
1947. The site itself was chosen on the basis of terrain 
suitable for the massive antenna, access to the electric 
power of Bonneville Dam, the nearly ideal ground con- 



RAD/O AGE 79 



ductivity of the area, relative access to supply lines in 
contrast to even more remote sites, and security in the 
event of a war. For six years, in cooperation with Navy 
experts, the skilled staff of the Engineering Products 
Department of the RCA Victor Division worked out 
details and construction of the extremely powerful trans- 
mitter while the unique problems of antenna arrange- 
ment and assembly were overcome by the specialists of 
RCA Communications, Inc. 

The transmitting equipment, manufactured at the 
RCA Victor plant in Camden, N. J. and transported to 
Seattle aboard 27 freight cars for trucking into the 
remote valley over a road cut through by the Navy, 
occupies most of the two-story concrete building at the 
heart of the installation. On the ground floor are power 
transformers, switch-gear, pumps, water tanks, heat ex- 
changers, telephone cable terminals and shops for serv- 
icing the equipment. The transmitter itself — actually 
a combination of two 500,000 watt transmitters — Is 
located on the second floor. Its very low frequency 
transmission ranges from 14.5 to .^5 kilocycles, as com- 
pared with the 550 to 1600 kilocycle range of the 
standard broadcasting band for commercial radio. 

Antenna System is Spectacular 

The signal goes out over an antenna system that 
forms the most spectacular feature of Big Jim. This is 
not the first use of mountains to replace high towers for 
antenna — it has been done before at Haiku, Oahu, and 
Trinidad, B.W.I. — but it is by far the largest and most 
complicated arrangement of the kind ever undertaken. 

The ten antenna spans, or catenaries, soar across a 
space ranging from a little over a mile to a mile and 
two-thirds from one ridge to the other, forming a zig- 
zag pattern over the floor of the valley. Twelve 200-foot 
towers along the crests of the ridges support the heavy 
spans, the longest of which stretches over an 8,700-foot 
gap. At the mid-point above the valley, the spans sag 
as much as 1,063 feet to allow for wind and ice condi- 
tions expected in the area, and from the lowest point of 
each span plunges a cable down to the towers of the 
system connecting the antenna with the transmitter. The 
whole antenna system is divided into two sections of five 
spans each. With the transmitter also divided into two 
units, this makes possible the operation of one half of 
the station in case the other half should be out of service 
for any reason. 

The site of the powerful station was selected by the 
Navy after a careful survey of all possible locations in 
the Puget Sound area, and the initial measurements, in- 
cluding erection of a single wire 8,000-foot antenna span 
for test transmission, were characterized by Admiral 
Ammon at the dedication ceremony as "a story to match 



any of those in the history of the taming of the West." 
Before the full system now in operation could be in- 
stalled, the Navy spent nearly a year clearing thousands 
of Douglas firs from the valley slopes to facilitate rig- 
ging, eliminate the danger of forest fire, and, most im- 
portant, improve the efficiency of the transmitter. Trees, 
it appears, absorb large quantities of the energy radiated 
by the antenna. 

RCA experts had also to cope with a substantial 
problem created by the electromagnetic field around the 
transmitter. The field generates enough electricity to 
spark across a foot-wide gap, and to ground the system, 
copper shielding and a ground screen were installed in 
the transmitter building while more than 200 miles of 
copper wire were laid in a radial arrangement of buried 
ground conductors. As an added point, the transmitter 
building was constructed to resist earthquakes. 

In operation. Big Jim requires a permanent staff of 
4 officers and 70 enlisted men, plus 35 civilian employees. 
Most of the personnel will live in quarters on the 725- 
acre site, and the remainder in Arlington, Wash., some 
1 1 miles away. 

The installation will be a relatively self-sufficient 
community with its own water and sewage disposal 
system, a completely equipped fire house, and electricity 
from Bonneville Dam — the primary source of power 
for the transmitter itself. 




Commander G. W. Warren, Officer in Charge of Jim 
Creek station, looks on as enlisted men operate code 
perforator machine, center, and receive teletype tape. 



20 RADIO AGE 



No Secrets Beneath the Ocean for 

the FISH FINDER 



yy 




Revolutionary Device Tracks Down and Identifies 
Fish in the Sea for Men on the Trawlers 



I 



"i^ 



By George P. Aldridge 

Vice President in Charge of Sales and Government 
Contracts, Radiomarine Corporation of America. 



N the late fall of 1953, the trawler Flying Cloud, 
out of Boston, made fishing history by dropping its nets 
unerringly into schools of haddock and cod off the 
New England coast and returning to port with a rich 
harvest days ahead of the normal schedule for a full 
catch. The secret was an uncanny electronic device that 
arms the fisherman with information that has been avail- 
able in the past only to the fish themselves. 

The Flying Cloud was the first American com- 
mercial vessel to be equipped with a revolutionary 
device that removes the guesswork from fishing by 
scanning in radar fashion beneath the water with an 
accuracy that distinguishes between varieties of fish 
and picks out even a single fish, describes the condition 
of the ocean bottom and warns of obstacles on which 
nets might snag. On the basis of its spectacular per- 
formance, the equipment has been ordered for installa- 
tion in the six trawlers of the Irving Usen Trawling 
Company, owners of the Flying Cloud, and consider- 
able interest has been aroused among other fishing 
concerns faced with the problem of tracking the great 
schools of food fish as they move away from their tradi- 
tional grounds to less familiar areas of the sea. 




This photograph of the Fischlupe's cathode ray tube 
shows a school of fish sighted during a test run. 

The fish finder, developed by Electro-acustic 
G.m.b.H. of Kiel, Germany, is being distiibuted by 
the Radiomarine Corporation of America. As installed 
aboard the Flying Cloud for several experimental trips, 
the equipment comprises a finding unit known as Fisch- 
lupe (combining the German word for fish and the 
French term for the small magnifying glass used by 
watchmakers), and a recotding depth sounder known 
as the Echograph. Prior to the commercial tests, similar 
units had been installed for test purposes aboard the 
motor vessel "Oregon," of the United States Fish and 
Wildlife Service. During all of the experimental phases, 
a team of Radiomarine engineers, headed by Melvin 
Schoenfeld, assisted in the opetation and adjustment of 
the equipment to its maximum effectiveness. 

Gives Constant Picture of Sea Beneath Ship 

The Fischlupe unit gives a running picture of the 
waters beneath the ship down to an effective range of 



RADIO AGE 21 






From left to right, drawings show Fischlupe tube face with range control (1) set at fixed range, showing sea 
bottom at 60 fathoms and school of fish at 30 fathoms; (2) selecting 8-fathom section from 22 to 30 fathoms to 
show depth of school; (3) selecting 8-fathom section at sea bottom to locate fish swimming at greater depth. 



280 fathoms (1680 feet), on the same basic principle 
employed by radar in spotting objects in the air. Power- 
ful supersonic signals are sent downward from the ship 
and are reflected by the sea bottom and all objects 
between. The echoes, bouncing back from the sea bed, 
rocks, wrecks, layers of plankton and fish, appear as 
light reflections on the face of a cathode ray tube 
equipped with a calibrated scale indicating the depth of 
the reflecting object. 

The appearance of a school of fish, which shows up 
on the tube as a set of short, horizontal traces of light, 
is the first step for the fisherman. Reading the depth of 
the school from the calibrated scale, he can turn to a 
range control switch permitting him to view an 8-fathom 
( 48-foot j vertical section anywhere within the total 
range — giving him, in effect, a substantial enlargement 
of whatever he wishes to see. This 8-fathom enlarge- 
ment may be moved up and down the total range, 
making possible the accurate measurement of the depth 
and density of the school. 

The Fischlupe does its job with remarkably few con- 
trols. The range control switch has only two positions ■ — • 
Fixed, to cover the normal maximum range of 280 
fathoms, and Variable, to select an 8-fathom section 
between the ship and the sea bottom. The depth scale 
is controlled by another knob, permitting its adjustment 
to any depth setting up to an extended range of 320 
fathoms. The only other manual dials are a sensitivity 
control, which sets the picture on the cathode ray tube 
at the desired intensity, and a dimmer control, operating 
as a rheostat for the panel lights and dial scales. An 
eight-day clock on the front panel helps the fisherman 
to determine the extent of a school by estimating the 
time required for the ship to pass over it at a given 
speed. 

Captain Richard Dobbin, master of the Flying 
Cloud, reported at the end of the profitable first run 

Captain Richard Dobbin, master of the trawler Flying 
Cloud, shows Fischlupe installation aboard vessel. 

22 RADIO AGE 



that the equipment did not stop at merely finding the 
schools. 

"I can tell the difference between hard and soft 
bottom, large haddock and small haddock, and cod and 
haddock," he said. "I can even pick out single fish — 
easily spot a dogfish. Unless I see a large catch on the 
Fischlupe, I never drop my nets." 

While the Fischlupe can serve as a normal depth 
sounder in addition to its duties in locating fish, the 
new Echograph is being installed in the Irving Usen 
trawlers to obtain a permanent record of the sea floor 
and underwater conditions. Operating on the same basic 
echo sounding principles as Fischlupe, the Echograph 
produces a lasting record of the underwater information 
on 8-inch-wide, electrosensitive dry recording paper. 
Working in tandem with Fischlupe, it supplements the 
radar-type fishfinder by preserving in permanent form 
the navigational and survey information that will help 
the fisherman to set his nets most efficiently and to 
return on future voyages to the most heavily populated 
fishing grounds. 




Blood Counting is Speeded by Electronics 

Sanguinomcter Uses Television and Unique Computer to 
Total Microscopic Particles Swiftly and Accurately 



The television camera has been turned into the eye 
of a simple and ingenious computer to count micro- 
scopic particles such as blood cells, bacterial cultures or 
grains of photographic emulsion. The system, known in 
its laboratory stage as the Sanguinometer, was developed 
by a team of electronics engineers at the David Sarnoff 
Research Center of RCA in Princeton, N. J., working in 
close cooperation with the Sloan-Kettering Institute, 
research unit of the Memorial Center for Cancer and 
Allied Diseases, in New York. 

The equipment was devised to provide a simple, 
rapid and accurate mass method of taking blood counts 
to detect the first signs of radiation sickness among 
persons in the target area of an atomic bomb. A blood 
count is an important indicator in many diseases and 
in those circumstances where anemia may be a compli- 
cation, such as overexposure to radiation which may 
occur during atomic attacks. 

In addition to this possible emergency use, its ap- 
plication is foreseen in hospitals and research centers to 
perform almost instantaneously and with a minimum of 
error a process that has long been a laborious, time- 
consuming and often unprecise manual operation in 
laboratory work. 

The Sanguinometer is essentially a closed-circuit 
industrial television system combined with an optical 
microscope and a novel computer that has the ability 
to make a count of particles in a given field by means of 
a unique electronic circuit developed by L. E. Flory 
and W. S. Pike of the technical staff, RCA Laboratories 
Division. The television camera, substituting for the 
eye of the observer at the eyepiece of the microscope, 
feeds the information which it "sees" to both the com- 
puter and a monitor viewing screen used in the develop- 
mental version to help in focus and illumination of the 
microscopic specimen. 

The development of the sanguinometer was carried 
out together with Dr. Leon Hellman, of the Sloan- 
Kettering Institute, who encouraged use of the television 
"eye" as the basis of a rapid counting system and 
worked closely with the RCA technical staff both in 
adapting the controls into a simple form suitable for 

The Sanguinometer undergoing tests at Sloan-Kettering 

Institute in New York. Television camera attached to 

microscope in foreground feeds information to computer, 

center, and to monitor in background. 



clinical use and in conducting tests of the mstrument 
on samples of human blood. 

Video Pulses Operate Counter 

In operation, the camera tube of the Sanguinometer, 
scanning the specimen under the microscope, sends out 
video pulses as the scanning beam strikes the images of 
particles to be counted, and the pulses in turn actuate 
an electronic counter. As in all television processes, 
the beam scans its field of vision from side to side, 
progressing downward in a series of parallel lines. The 
lines are so close together that in a normal microscopic 
magnification each particle to be counted interrupts 
several lines as the scanning beam moves across the 
field, and consequently produces several pulses in the 
output of the television system. This means that large 
particles will interrupt more lines and produce more 
pulses individually than will small ones, and that the 
counter would be unable to distinguish between a large 
number of small particles or a small number of large 
ones unless compensation were made for their size. 
(Continued on page 52) 





NBC Studio 5H at opening in December. Technicians man console while broadcast coordina- 
tor occupies glass-paneled booth at left, facing large monitor panel at right of picture. 

New Flexibility for TV in NBC Studio 5H 



By Leonard Hole 
Director of Production, National Broadcasting Company 

P 

JL OR the first time in television history, the National 

Broadcasting Company last month placed at the finger- 
tips of one man the ability to weave into a unified pro- 
gram the fast-breaking elements of a news story or major 
public event involving widely scattered locations through- 
out the country, and to break into any outgoing television 
program with news bulletins or emergency announce- 
ments. 

The revolutionary control is built into a compact 
suite known as TV Coordinating Studio 5H at the heart 
of the NBC television complex in Radio City, New York. 
Its entry into service solves a combination of needs that 
had become apparent to the NBC broadcast operations 
and engineering staffs over the past few years. From the 
standpoint of news coverage, for example, the facilities 
of Studio 5H embody lessons learned in television treat- 
ment of the political conventions and the election cam- 
paign of 1952, when rapidly shifting action underlined 
the need for a central point at which a single coordinator 
might view material picked up by various cameras and 
switch the outgoing program from one to another to 
keep pace with developments of greatest interest. Fre- 
quently, too, important news flashes were delayed by the 
somewhat complicated job of cutting into studio pro- 
grams being broadcast over automatically pre-set circuits. 



The solution to these two problems, among others, 
has been built into Studio 5H. The result for the tele- 
vision viewer will be more rapid handling of important 
news flashes, more complete and smoother presentation 
of major news events, conventions and campaigns, sports 
roundups and other far-flung features calling for simul- 
taneous coverage in several widely separated areas. For 
the future, it will make a practical reality of program 
concepts that have been up to now only a planner's 
dream. 

Originally Planned as a Film Studio 

The finished studio was several years in the making. 
Originally, 5H was planned principally as an additional 
television film studio to cope with increased program 
schedules. Before the NBC staff had finished with its 
planning, however, the project had grown into a complex 
S375,000 unit capable of originating film programs and 
integrating film with live programs, originating substitute 
film programs in case of scheduled program failure, 
broadcasting network identifications, local spot commer- 
cials and apology announcements when necessary, orig- 
inating spot news bulletins or emergency announce- 
ments, combining incoming programs from sources 
outside Radio City, and coordinating all broadcast trans- 
mission so that emergency changes in program routine 
could be handled swiftly and smoothly. The circuits 
through which these processes are accomplished are 



24 RADIO AGE 



capable of handling compatible color as well as black- 
and-white television programs. 

The nerve center of the completed studio is a glass- 
enclosed booth occupied by the broadcast coordinator. 
Spread out before him, beyond the glass, is a long console 
with positions occupied by a program producer, a direc- 
tor and technicians controlling sound and picture signals. 
All face a large monitoring panel, studded with an array 
of monitor screens presenting a constant view of out- 
going programs and of incoming signals from as many 
as ten outside cameras. 

In the event of a major news development, the co- 
ordinator can see on the ten receiving monitors the pic- 
tures being picked up by NBC news and mobile units 
covering the story, and, with the help of the technicians, 
he may select and put on the air at any moment the 
action of greatest interest. A special 10-position tele- 
phone communications systems allows him at the same 
time to maintain direct contact with the camera units 
for advice and direction. 

Studio 5H also is equipped with a "live commentary" 
booth for a commentator or announcer who may be 
called upon to play a part in any special events program. 
The booth is fitted out with a console for the announcer 
and a television camera which focuses upon him while 



he talks, feeding the picture to one of the incoming 
program monitors from which the coordinator selects 
his program material. 

Vidicon Cameras Used 

The film equipment of Studio 5H includes two 
iconoscope film camera chains, two Vidicon film pickup 
cameras and their associated projection devices. The 
whole unit can handle both l6mm and 35mm film, film 
strips, opaques and transparencies. 

The tiny Vidicon used in two of the cameras is the 
smallest television camera tube ever developed for broad- 
cast use. A product of the Tube Department of the RCA 
Victor Division, the Vidicon was used for the first time 
in regular broadcasting on Oct. 12, when NBC employed 
it in two local and network film programs. The tube is 
only one inch in diameter and six inches long, and its 
small size and simplicity make possible a simpler, more 
compact and lower-cost television film camera for broad- 
cast use. As used in the broadcast film camera, the 
Vidicon is a refinement of the tube originally developed 
by RCA and now widely used in industrial television. 
The Studio 5H installation has left room for nvo more 
Vidicon cameras in the future. 




Satyavati Buch, of India, at work with the electron micro- 
scope at the RCA Victor laboratory in Camden, N. J. 



Indian Woman Scientist Plans Fight 
On Cancer with Electron Microscope 

A cancer research program based on electron micros- 
copy will be established in Bombay by a youthful Indian 
woman scientist as a result of her recent studies of the 
RCA electron microscope at RCA Victor's Camden, 
N. J., laboratory. 

Twenty-eight year old Satyavati Buch, whose educa- 
tional visit was arranged under a U. S. State Department 
public health fellowship, concentrated her studies at 
Camden on the most advanced technique for operating 
the electron microscope as a research tool. 

A proponent of the theory that cancer is caused by a 
virus, Miss Buch, now en route to Bombay, plans to 
study typical cancer tissue under the fabulous magnifi- 
cation of the electron microscope in the hope that it 
will expose the virus. India has two RCA electron 
microscopes, gifts of the American Point Four Program, 
in use at the University of Bombay and at the National 
Physical Laboratory in Delhi. Nearly 500 RCA electron 
microscopes are now being used by medical centers, 
universities, laboratories, government bureaus, manu- 
facturers, and other important centers of research 
throughout the world. 

RADIO AGE 25 




World of Electronics Produces a Long-Run Hit Shi 



By Harry P. O'Brien 

Manager of the RCA Exhibition Hall 



A. 



,.LTHOUGH "science fact" may not be any stranger 
than science fiction, the real thing is just as popular as 
the fantasy when it is presented with clarity, color and 
imagination. This has been proven by the Radio Cor- 
poration of America in the RCA Exhibition Hall, de- 
signed to give the public an understanding of the present 
and a glimpse into the future of this electronic age. 

Inside the glass- fronted showcase, located across the 
street from the RCA building in Radio City, New York, 
is a miniature world's fair of science that demonstrates 
how electronic development is affecting life in the 20th 
Century. And like the wheel of fortune, the revolving 
door that leads into the wonderland of electronics keeps 
turning, turning, turning. More than 8,000,000 people 
in six years have visited the Hall to see the latest 
"miracles" that science has wrought — from an electron 
microscope to a large-screen color television set. 

Whenever new products and developments are per- 
fected in the RCA laboratories, they are introduced to 
the public in the Exhibition Hall and, when possible, 
actual demonstrations are performed. Currently, visitors 
can see the steps involved in the manufacture of the 
revolutionary transistor, a diminutive device that is 
replacing the vacuum tube in certain vital electronic 
functions; they can view the delicate processes involved 
in the making of an electron tube, and alongside these 
they may see the most recent technical products that 
have been developed. 



Besides its exhibit of scientific developments, the 
Hall houses a wide assortment of RCA products, ranging 
from RCA Victor portable radios to RCA Estate gas 
and electric ranges. This attractive display has caused 
the Hall to pay off in more ways than just good will and 
prestige. According to RCA Victor dealers, visitors 
frequently are "pre-sold" in the Hall, and many, after 
leaving, order products they have seen exhibited. 

Amusement Blended with Science 

Because amusement has been skillfully blended with 
science and information, the Hall attracts persons of all 
ages and interests. Sightseers can watch programs on a 
television screen ( no small item during the World 
Series), hear RCA Victor recordings on request, and 
even stand before a TV camera and see themselves on 
a special viewing screen. 

This feature, called "See Yourself on Television," 
has been one of the biggest drawing-cards in the Hall. 
Millions of ordinary visitors, frustrated actors and pro- 
fessional TV performers have stood before the image 
orthicon camera staring in amusement, "performing," or 
checking costumes and facial expressions before a 
telecast. 

One young man used to appear every time Arturo 
Toscanini was scheduled to broadcast with the NBC 
Symphony Orchestra. As a radio brought the symphonic 
music into the Hall, he would stand before the self- 
television camera and, surrounded by other visitors, 
watch himself conduct as he thought the Maestro might 
be doing it. The "audience" in the Exhibition Hall 
usu.-.lly applauded the young conductor's performance. 



26 RADIO AGE 




m by More than 8,000,000 at RCA Exhibition Hall 



Another entertainment feature is the Dave Garroway 
News Center on the main floor of the Hall. Garroway 
broadcasts the television shows "Today" each morning 
from 7 to 10 and has as a live audience passers-by 
who can see the show through the window from the 
sidewalk outside the building. Often during the telecasts 
the camera turns the audience into participants by 
switching from the show to the crowd outside. One 
morning recently, both the spectators and the profes- 
sionals on the show were surprised when the camera 
picked up former President Harry S. Truman, who 
happened by on a morning walk just as the camera 
was scanning the audience. When the Hall opens at 
11 a.m., the News Center serves as an exhibit of all the 
electronic equipment required to produce a network 
television program. 

Hall Has Small Theater 

On the floor beneath this industrial and scientific 
display, RCA has constructed the small, acoustically 
perfect Johnny Victor Theater. To the last detail, it is 
completely modern in equipment and functional in 
design. 

Business organizations, cultural groups, fraternal and 
charitable societies and school groups can meet in the 
theater, free of charge, to view films, hold discussions 
or watch television programs. Questions of international 
scope have been debated behind the soundproof walls 
when Iranian oil officials, for example, met there, or 
when United Nations delegations have used the room. 
Not without some justification, the theater has been 



labelled a second U.N. General Assembly, for in the 
last two years some 50 U.N. delegations have booked the 
theater and the adjacent lounge for meetings, films and 
television viewings. 

In order to arrange reservations for the theater, 
answer queries about RCA from all over the world, con- 
duct tours of the HaU and maintain the complicated 
electronic equipment, the Hall employs a stafiF of twenty- 
six, including a manager, three assistant managers, a 
secretary, technicians, engineers, maintenance men, 
porters and guides. 

When the Hall first opened six years ago, many 
showmen predicted that the automatic counters at the 
door would never click past the one million mark, be- 
cause the public would not be interested in so technical 
a subject as electronics. But instead, the average attend- 
ance has been well over a million a year, and it is 
increasing annually. 

Aside from the fact that scientists and industrialists 
are now realizing what fiction writers have known for 
a long time — that people are fascinated by the "magic" 
of science — there is perhaps another reason for the 
overwhelming success of the HaU. Many can still re- 
member the prophets of electronics who, in a wilderness 
of skepticism, predicted that radio and television one 
day would be an integral part of our lives. Now that 
it is evident that the comparatively new science is going 
to continue making today's mode of living obsolete 
tomorrow, the public may well feel determined not to 
be caught off guard again when it comes to this fabulous 
business of electronics. 



RADIO AGE 27 



Licenses and Royalties 

{continued from page 16) 
the RCA, after December 31, 1954, royalties on all 
radio, television and other electronic patents in our 
field which they use and which were developed by GE, 
Westinghouse, the Telephone Company or RCA before 
December 31, 1954. 

Second, it is the opinion of our experts — and I fully 
share it — that the most important inventions for the 
future of our business and for the business of those 
whom we license, are not the GE and Westinghouse 
inventions. 

Among the areas for licensing which we regard as 
most important, are color television and transistors. In 
color television I'm sure you all know that RCA has 
made the basic inventions. In transistors the basic in- 
ventions have been made by RCA and the Telephone 
Company. 

So, while we naturally hope to be able to sub-license 
under Westinghouse and GE inventions, nevertheless, 
we feel that the inventions of our own Laboratories, and 
the patents and applications on them, are of such value 
for the future that they represent the important inven- 
tions in our field. 

Another point not generally appreciated is that be- 
cause we are in the patent licensing business we take 
the disadvantages that go with that business as well as 
the advantages. 

Policy Encourages Competition 

If RCA were not in the business of licensing its 
competitors on the inventions which it makes, we would 
be the only one able to market our own important devel- 
opments and to retain for the RCA all the benefits from 
such exclusivity. As matters stand now, we share our 
inventions with our competitors at a very moderate 
royalty rate of less than two per cent of the manufac- 
turers' selling price of apparatus which uses our inven- 
tions. And, our very liberal license agreements contain 
no restrictions at all as to price, quantity, territory or 
anything else. 

In fact, it is this liberality in our licensing policy 
which has contributed to making the television industry 
the highly competitive industry it is today. If RCA were 
to give up its licensing business and stop licensing the 
rest of the industry, it would be RCA's competitors who 
would suffer most in relative standing and not the RCA. 

Some of our largest competitors have become success- 
ful and have grown prosperous because they benefited 
greatly from the research and development work of the 
RCA. The pioneering efforts of RCA have opened new 
fields of opportunity for the entire industry. 



I believe it will also be conceded that we would not 
have the highly competitive, highly successful television 
industry that we have today, were it not for the positive 
assistance which RCA has made available to its com- 
petitors through its inventions, licenses, "know-how" and 
pioneering efforts to create and develop new products 
and services for the public. 

We are confident that we have basic inventions in 
the important fields for the future of our business irre- 
spective of what may happen to our sub-licensing rights. 
For that reason, we believe that an RCA license will con- 
tinue to have as great or even a greater value for our 
competitors after 1954, than it has today. 



Hagerty Named 



(continued from page 9) 
the Board created by the resignation of Mr. John K. 
Herbert from NBC. 

At NBC, George H. Prey has been promoted to Vice- 
President in Charge of Television Network Sales. Thomas 
McAvity was elected Vice-President in Charge of Tele- 
vision Network Programs and Carl M. Stanton became 
Vice-President in Charge of the Film Division. 

Dr. Douglas H. Ewing was named Director of a 
newly-formed Physical and Chemical Research Labora- 
tory of the Research Department, RCA Laboratories 
Division, with headquarters at the David Sarnoff Re- 
search Center in Princeton, N. J. Dr. Ewing was 
formerly Director of Research Services for the Division. 

In other RCA Laboratories' promotions, Ralph S. 
Holmes was appointed Director of Research Contracts, 
responsible for the administration of governmental and 
university contracts as well as the supervision of publi- 
cations of the Division. Arthur W. Vance has become 
Director of the newly established Special Projects Re- 
search Laboratory of the Research Department. 

Now a Portdbk Battery Kit 
Lets a Man Shave Anywhere 

A handy battery kit that will allow the owner of an 
electric razor to do his shaving anywhere is now being 
produced by the Tube Department of the RCA Victor 
Division. 

Designed for travelers, fishermen, hunters, campers 
and anyone else who takes to the open spaces, the RCA 
Shaver Battery Kit is built around two batteries and a 
standard-type receptacle into which any AC/DC electric 
shaver can be plugged. The elements are packed into 
a small simulated leather traveling case with a flap- 
over top that protects the plug, and the assembly is re- 
movable for easy replacement of batteries. The whole 
unit was designed to fit into luggage or outdoor gear. 



28 RAD/O AGE 



Sturdiest Icebreaker Plows Labrador Waters; 
RCA Equipment Aids in Arctic Patrols 



<Jo important has the industrial development of 
Labrador become and so significant the establishing of 
more outposts for scientific purposes throughout the 
eastern Arctic, that the Canadian government has put 
into service the sturdiest icebreaking ship ever con- 
structed, the Canadian Government Steamship d'lher- 
ville. To support her operations, she is equipped with 
a 7-way compact RCA radiotelegraph unit meeting the 
high specifications demanded by the Canadian Depart- 
ment of Transport. 

Canadian built at Lauzon, the 310-foot C.G.S. 
d'lberville is the latest in a long line of icebreakers 
operated by the Canadian government since 1876 in the 
St. Lawrence River and its Gulf, the Atlantic coast, 
Hudson Strait, and the Canadian Arctic. 

She is a dual purpose ship, the d'lberville, accom- 
modating both cargo and passengers. Of her cargo, 
possibly the most precious is the oil which the d'lber- 
ville carries in addition to her own supply sufficient to 
power her for the 12,000 mile round trip. Oil is an 
even greater necessity to far northern outposts than it 
is in civilized areas. Apart from fuel oil and diesel, 
the icebreaker also sets out with some 7,000 gallons of 
high-test gasoline for her two helicopters. 

These aircraft serve not only to scout for ice packs, 
aiding the ship in her visual and radar navigation, but 
supplement the lifesaving and landing use of four motor 
lifeboats. 

Other cargo includes food and prefabricated houses 
such as those for the latest Royal Canadian Mounted 
Police post at treeless Cape Herschel on the east coast 
of Islemere Island. Also in the cargo on her travels in 
Arctic waters is equipment for maintenance of buoys 
and of meteorological stations. 

The icebreaker's passengers are a colorful lot: mis- 
sionaries and mounties, Hudson Bay Company factors 
and government officials, research scientists and radio 
operators, meteorologists and federal Health and Wel- 
fare specialists, and Eskimos being transported to areas 
where game is more plentiful. 

On her return from the far north to keep navigation 
open on the St. Lawrence, the C.G.S. d'lberville will 
not be idle. With increasing industrial development in 
eastern Canada, there is a greater demand than ever 
before for navigation to be made possible during the 
winter months. In this task, the icebreaker may expect 




A helicopter, directed by radio from the mother ship, 
takes ofF from deck of the d'lberville ofF Labrador 



In the radio room of the icebreaker d'lberville. Radio 

Officer Charlie Seaman tunes in one of the several RCA 

radiotelegraph units built into the console. 




calls for her service to come pouring through her RCA 
radiotelegraph unit at all hours. 

Before going on regular service, the C.G.S. d'lher- 
ville went on a shakedown cruise in the early summer, 
crossing the Atlantic to visit the ports of London, Liver- 
pool, Glasgow and Le Havre, but also to take her place 
in the Coronation naval review at Spithead. Apart from 
a much smaller, wooden craft operating from the Falk- 
land Islands, the d'lberville was the only icebreaker 
to take pan in that historic event. 

The ship is named for a distinguished Canadian 
pioneer and explorer. Pierre LeMoyne d'lberville, born 
at Montreal in 1661, travelled as far north as Hudson's 
Bay, discovered the mouth of the Mississippi River, and 
established a fort on the site of what is now New 
Orleans where he became the first Governor-General of 
Louisiana when that tract belonged to France. 

Radio Officers Laud Equipment 

One of the modern distinctions of this ship bearing 
the distinguished name of d'lberville, is that there is 
probably no other icebreaker anywhere so well equipped 
for radiotelegraph communications. This is the opinion 
of her radio officer, Charlie Seaman, of Pugwash, Nova 
Scotia. He and the second radio officer, Leo Irvin of 
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, have expressed confidence in 
the usefulness and versatility of their equipment. 

Both of these young Bluenoses have a lively appre- 
ciation of reliable radio communications. In the 12 
years that he has served with the Canadian Department 
of Transport, Seaman spent two years on land stations 
in Labrador. Irvin, with seven years' service in the De- 
partment, did a 20-months stretch on lonely Sable Island 
whose shifting sandy banks have snared Atlantic ship- 
ping from the days of the earliest explorers. To these 
radio officers the need for reliable communications in 
isolated parts of the north-eastern Arctic is keenly ap- 
preciated. And Irvin, who once sailed aboard a Nor- 
wegian sealer in northern waters, knows the threat of 
voyages in ice-filled seas. 

That these two men set out confidently on the 
d'lberville's first voyage to the Arctic indicates their 
confidence in the RCA radiotelegraph unit. This unit, 
neat and compact, brings to within arm's length of a 
radio officer's swivel chair these communications and 
safety devices: 

A 250 watt main transmitter with eight crystal 
controlled channels covering the 350 to 518 kilocycle 
band; 

A 300 watt high frequency crystal-controlled trans- 
mitter providing long distance communication on the 
six, eight, 12 and 16 megacycle bands; 



A 40 watt emergency transmitter battery operated 
in case of failure of the main power supply and covering 
five frequencies; 

An alarm signal Keyer for automatic transmission 
of the international alarm signal indicating distress at 
four-second intervals on 500 kilocycles; 

An automatic alarm that reacts to the reception of 
international alarm signals from other ships in distress 
by activating a series of relays and vacuum tubes to set 
alarm bells ringing on the bridge, in the cabins of the 
captain and radio officers, as well as in the wireless 
cabin itself; 

A main receiver. Model AR-8506-B, covering from 
85 to 550 kc and 1900 to 25000 kc; 

An emergency receiver, Model AR-8510, powered 
by either the ship's main line or by batteries and cover- 
ing from 15 to 650 kilocycles. 

That all these aids to Arctic travel have been knit 
together by Radiomarine Corporation of America into 
one neat console is a miracle of modern electronics. 

Through this unit may come a call at any time of 
day or night from a ship in distress and back from the 
d'lberville will be sent words of comfort as she ploughs 
through ice to the rescue. 

Or the message may be a command from Ottawa to 
take aboard scientists eager to report to headquarters 
their latest findings. It may be a message giving direc- 
tions for the delivery by helicopter of ballot boxes, as 
was done on the first northern voyage of the d'lberville 
when the privilege of voting was ensured those in even 
the most remote settlements. Or the RCA radiotele- 
graph unit may receive a call for medical aid from a 
lonely outpost. On the ship's first voyage four Eskimos 
who had been treated at a hospital in Quebec City were 
taken back to their homes in Arctic Bay by the ice- 
breaker. 



NBC-TV Program Selected for U.S. 
Overseas Information Program 

Kinescope prints of the NBC-TV "Voice of Fire- 
stone" program will be distributed through the United 
States Information Service throughout Europe, the Far 
East and Latin America, the State Department has 
announced. The radio version of the program, which 
celebrated its 25th anniversary on NBC on Nov. 30, 
has been distributed overseas by the State Department 
for the past six years. The television version is to form 
part of a new U.S.I.S. program, "Your TV Concert Hall," 
which is being distributed for television showings in 
foreign countries. 



30 RADIO AGE 




Transistorized broadcast radio 
receiver capable of fitting 
into a breast pocket is shown 
in comparison with an earlier 
model equipped with a 4 x 
6-inch speaker. 



Tt7iy Broadcast Receivers 
Use Liiproved RCA 
Transistors 



An experimental radio broadcast receiver that fits 
into the breast pocket of a man's suit is the latest by- 
product of transistor research and development at the 
David Sarnoff Research Center of RCA in Princeton, 
N. J. Weighing only a pound, the tiny receiver has an 
audio output comparable to conventional small portable 
radios built with tubes. 

The new receiver is considerably smaller than an 
earlier experimental transistorized receiver with a 4 x 
6-inch speaker. The larger model (see RADIO AGE, 
Volume 12, Number 4) compares in sensitivity and 
fidelity with table model receivers several times its size. 
Both of the transistorized sets are powered with small 
flashlight batteries. Although they are still in the 
laboratory stage, both have been extensively field tested. 

These new approaches in portable radio broadcast 
receivers have been made possible by RCA's development 
of simply-constructed junction transistors that amplify 
signals at frequencies as high as 10 megacycles. 

The amplification of high frequency signals has been 
enhanced in the new RCA experimental transistors by 
the drilling of a "well" in the center of a germanium 
crystal wafer, leaving a layer less than 1/500 of an inch 
in thickness. Before their application in the unique 
receivers, the transistors have been exhaustively tested. 




USEFUL FREQUENCY RANG 



NEW R F. 
.lUNCTION TRANSISTOR 



VIDEO FREQUEf 

FOR 
TELEVISION S 



IF FREQUEN' 
FOR 
RADIO SET! 



STANDARD 

JUNCTION 

TRANSISTOR! 



AUDIO 
FREQUENCY 



David D. Holmes, co-developer of the miniature set, 
holds it against chart showing performance of new 
transistor, three of which are in the palm of his hand. 

Below, Dr. C. W. Mueller, RCA scientist, checks ex- 
perimental transistor, seen through magnifying glass. 




19-Inch Tn-Color Tube 
Is Developed By RCA 

Development of a 19-inch tri-color television picture 
tube was announced by RCA to its tube licensees on 
December 31. The new tube is of the shadow-mask 
type, similar in construction to the 15 -inch tri-color tube 
which RCA plans to introduce in its first color sets. 

Announcement of the larger tube was contained in 
a letter to the licensees from Ewen C. Anderson, Vice 
President in Charge of the Commercial Department, 
RCA, together with an invitation to the licensees to 
attend a demonstration and technical discussion of the 
tube on January 2 1 at the David Sarnoflf Research Center 
of RCA in Princeton, N.J. 

The symposium will be the third in six months for 
the licensees, under the RCA policy of spreading the 
results of its research and development as widely as 
possible through the industry. Last July 15, the licensees 
attended a symposium on the RCA 15 -inch tri-color 
tube, and in August they visited the tri-color tube pilot 
plant in Lancaster, Pa., to see and discuss production 
processes and equipment. 

Blood Counting 

(Continued from page 23) 

This obstacle was overcome with an ingenious di- 
ameter compensation circuit that is able to determine 
the average size of the particles by taking account of a 
direct relationship between the average time duration of 
the pulses and the diameter of the particles. This indi- 
cates the number of video pulses created by each particle, 
a figure that is electronically fed to the counter where it 
divides the total number of pulses to give an automatic 
reading of the actual number of particles. 

The entire process, as performed by the latest lab- 
oratory model of the Sanguinometer, is both simple and 
far more rapid than any manual count. Once the slide is 
prepared and put under the microscope, the operator 
manipulates a single control knob on the counting meter 
until an electric eye tube on the meter case is closed. 
This indicates that compensation has been made for the 
average diameter of the particles to be counted. It is 
then necessary for the operator only to read the meter 
to determine the number of particles in the field of the 
microscope. 

The Sanguinometer has indicated in tests that it is 
capable of handling with only a small margin of error 
a count of many varieties of microscopic particles as 
long as the particles within any one specimen are nearly 
uniform in size. It is not suitable for counting particles 
whose sizes and shapes vary widely in a single specimen. 



Video Tape Recording 

[Continued from page 15) 
changes the magnetic polarity of the magnetic oxide 
particles on the tape so that they become a compact code 
of the original signal 

For playback, the tape is drawn across the same, or 
a similar head. The magnetic "shorthand" on the tape 
causes an alternating current to flow in the windings 
around the reproducing head. The reproduced current 
closely duplicates the original signal. 

Although the principles are similar, the engineering 
problems are not; audio recording is today an easy task 
compared with video recording. The reason is that audio 
signals are in the range of 20 to 20,000 cycles per second, 
while video signals range up to 4,000,000 cycles per 
second. Color television signals, as now formulated, must 
carry at least twice as much pictorial information as 
black-and-white. Video tape also must carry the asso- 
ciated sound signals along with this pictorial information. 

RCA research has resulted in specially developed 
recording and reproducing heads which respond to fre- 
quencies many times above the cut-off point for the 
recording heads used in sound recording on magnetic 
tape. This means that the speed of the tape across the 
head has been brought within manageable limits. The 
equipment demonstrated on Dec. 1 had a tape speed of 
30 feet per second. Advanced equipment now under con- 
struction will move the tape at a lower speed, and with 
time, further reductions of tape speed appear likely. 

The magnetic tape reels of the present laboratory 
equipment are 17 inches in diameter and will record 4 
minutes of a television program. RCA is working now 
for a reel 19 inches in diameter which will carry a 15 
minute program. 

For video tape recording of color television with the 
RCA system, five parallel channels are recorded on a 
single magnetic tape 1/2-inch in width. There is one 
recorded channel for each of the primary color signals 
(red, green, and blue), for the synchronizing signal, and 
for the sound signal. For black-and-white recording the 
tape carries two recorded channels, one for the video 
signal and the synchronizing signal, and one for the 
sound signal. For black-and-white television, a i^-inch 
wide tape would suffice. 

To rebroadcast a color television program from a tape 
recording made on the equipment shown at Princeton, it 
is necessary to combine the three primary color signals 
with the synchronizing signal to form a composite signal 
to send to the transmitter. While this operation is not 
yet ready for demonstration, Dr. Engstrom said that it is 
the subject of current development that will provide the 
necessary apparatus to produce this result. 



32 RADIO AGE 




^oiire funnier than Beric . . . belter tlian Piiiza ! 



Make your debut on the nev/ 
RCA Push-Button Tape Recorder 

A push of a button — and you're on! 

The new RCA Tape Recorder 
proves it: yours is without question 
the greatest theatrical family of all 
time. Well, better than the Talbots 
next door, anyway. 

There are countless hours of en- 
tertainment and years of precious 
memories built into this electronic 
wonder— the finest portable tape re- 
corder made. And it has its practical 
side, too. 



You can tape your favorite radio 
programs and the sound portions of 
top TV shows. Your children can use 
the recorder to polish up on piano 
lessons — and there's no better way 
for yon to rehearse important busi- 
ness talks and speeches. You can 
keep your recordings forever— strong 
and clear. Or erase them on the 
spot. 

But mainly this versatile recorder 
will be the sound and voice of your 
family. Birthday parties, holiday 
gatherings, weddings — captured for 
a lifetime on tape! 



The RCA emblem is your assurance 
of perfect tonal clarity, of top opera- 
tional ease, and of many, many years 
of dependable wear. 

Another great RCA achievement. 
Another mission accomplished in 
RCA's never-ending program of 
bringing the \'ery best in sound and 
entertainment into the home. 

First the RCA \'ictor phonograph, 
then RCA \'ictor radio, and RCA 
Victor television. Today the new 
RCA Push-Button Tape Recorder. 
And tlicrc arc many tomorrows noio 
in the RCA "workshop," too! 



01^® Radio Corporation of America 

WorUI lender in radin — first in tele\.-ision 




Aiiuro Toscunini cuiiducting "Death and Tiansfigiiration," Opus 24. hij Richard Strauss 



RCA High Fidelity brings you 
every musical note ! 



RCA Victor High Fidelity is the result of a half cen- 
tury of leadership iu recorded music, phonograph re- 
search and development of radio and motion picture 
sound equipment. It is a new dimension in sound 
created by the perfect union of recorded music and 
the phonograph. 

A genuine high fidelity instrument re-creates the 
full range of tones and overtones of the original com- 
position—exactly as the composer intended. The pre- 
cise balance of sounds from the highest to the lowest 
must be maintained if perfection is to be achieved 
free of distortion. 

"Victrola"® phonographs, Victor records, and "inter- 
matched" high fidelity equipments for those who want 
to assemble their own units — all are designed to work 
together to bring the brilliance of the original per- 
formance into the home. Now, with RCA High Fidel- 



ity instruments, you can hear the full gamut of the 
orchestra — from the shimmer of the cymbals to the 
beat of the tom-tom. You can hear your favorite music 
as it would sound if you were in the presence of tlie 
recording orchestra and artists. 

True Hi-Fi — as in RCA Victor instruments and com- 
ponents—embraces the entire scale of tones from the 
rich lows to the colorful highs. There is nothing miss- 
ing . . . the sounds reach the ear in their proper pro- 
portion and relation. 

The nation-wide interest in high fidelity reflects the 
public's glowing taste for the highest quality music. 
Developments by RCA scientists and engineers now 
make it possible for you to enjoy this new musical 
experience. Visit your RCA Victor dealer and hear 
the new Hi-Fi models of "Victrola" phonographs, 
N'ictor records and "intennatched" components. 




Radio Co/tronjrmN of America 

If arid leader in mdia — Jir.sl in teU\'isiun 



APRIL 1954 



RADIO 4^E 

RESEARCH • MANUFACTURING • COMMUNICATIONS • BROADCASTING • TELEVISION 



■■«!*■- 



i^9 




,*»*«-«-^- 



\ 



A Year of Progress! 

The steady progress that has char- 
acterized the histoiy of the Radio 
Corporation of America continued 
in 19.53 as the volume of business 
increased for the seventh successive 
year, reaching an all-time high of 
$85.3,0.54,000. 

Progress in development of color 
television, approval by the Federal 
Communications Commission of sig- 
nal standards on which the RCA 
compatible color television system 
is designed to operate, set the stage 
for 1954 as the "Introductory Year" 
of color television. 

Significant ad\'ances on several 
fronts were made by RCA in 1953: 

1. Magnetic tape recording of tele- 
\ision programs in both color and 
black-and-white, ushering in a new 
era of "electronic photography." 

2. A new method, which, for the 
first time in histoiy makes it possible 
to convert atomic energy directly 
into small but usable cjuantities of 
electrical energy with sufficiently 
high current multiplication to oper- 
ate electronic apparatus. Based on 
this method, an experimental RCA 
Atomic Battery powered by a mi- 
nute quantity of a long-life radio- 
active isotoiJe was demonstrated. 

3. Continued development and ap- 
plication of transistors revealed that 
electronics of solids holds tremen- 
dous possibilities for new advances 
in radio and television sets as well 
as in other electronic equipment. 

Foreseeing new opportunities in 
all phases of its activities, RCA has 
intensified research, stiengthened 
and expanded its organization, in- 
creased manufacturing caisacity and 
diversified its products. Our objec- 
tive is to maintain the leadership of 
RCA in radio, television and elec- 
tronics, to serve America and its 
people through production of the 
finest instruments and by rendering 
the most efficient and economical 
services. Om' watchword is quality 
and om- aim is to maintain the sym- 
bol "RCA" as a hallmark of depend- 
ability, superior performance and 
progress. 



^^JZUaaJ^cu^ 



Chairman of tlie Board 



President 



IKesiilts at 

from RCA 1953 



Products and Services Sold 

Per cent increase over previous year 

Profit before Federal Taxes on 

Income 
Per cent to products and services sold 
Per common share 

Total Federal Taxes on Income 
Per cent to profit before Federal 

taxes on income 
Per common share 

Net Profit 

Per cent to products and services sold 

Per common share 

Preferred DrviDENDS Declared 

for Year 
Per share 

Common Divtoends Declared 

for Year 
Per share 

Total Dividends Declared 
for Year 

Reinvested Earnings at 
December 31 

Stockholders' Equity at Year End 

Working Capital at Year End 
Ratio of current assets to current 

liabilities 
Additions to Plant and Equipment 

Depreciation of Plant and 
Equipment 

Net Plant and Equipment at 
Year End 

Number of Employees at Close 

OF Ye.\R 



a Ivlaiiee 




Annual Report 




1953 


1952 


$853,054,000 

22.9% 


$693,941,000 
15.9% 


72,437,000 

8.5% 
4.94 


67,362,000 

9.7% 
4.62 


37,415,000 


35,037,000 


51.7% 
2.67 


52.0% 

2.52 


35,022,000 
4.1% 
2.27 


32,325.000 

4.7% 
2.10 


3,153,000 
3..50 


3,1.53.000 
3..50 


16,810,000 
1.20 


13,858,000 
1.00 


19,963,000 


17,011,000 


164,068,000 


153,299,000 


215,719,000 


202,287.000 


228,941,000 


205,288,000 


2.9 to 1 


3.0 to 1 


33.644.000 


26,561,000 


13,999,000 


11,128,000 


134,182,000 


115,444.000 


65,000 


64.000 



A topv of RCA Annual Report for 1!).53 will be sent upon request. 
Write Radio Corporation of America, 30 Roekefeller Plaza, N. Y. 20. 



Walter A. Buck 
John T. Cahill 
Frank M. Folsom 
Harry C. Hagerty 



BOARD OF DIRECTORS 

John Hays Hammond, Jr. 
George L. Harrison 
Mrs. Douglas Horton 
Harry C. Ingles 



Charles B. Jolliffe 
Edward F. NIcGrady 
William E. Robinson 
DAvm Sarnoff 




Radio Coiiporatiox of America 

U'orld leader in radio — jirst in (ele^'ision 



VOLUME 13 NUMBER 2 



ARCH • MANUFACTURING • COMMUNICATION! 
BROADCASTING •TELEVISION 



CONTENTS 



APRIL1954 



V '•- * •■Ji. 


lasj^ri*^- •'■•'• S-d 


i,/n^^-^ 




-f 'Hi ^"'"' w 



COVER 

The first commercial RCA color 
television sets undergo their 
final test at the RCA plant in 
Bloomington, Indiana. 



NOTICE 

When requesting o change In mailing 
address please include the code letters 
and numbers which oppear with the 
stencilled address on the envelope. 

Rodio Age is published quorlerlf by 
the Department of /nformofion, Rodio 
Corporotion of America, 30 Rocke 
feller Plaza, New ^ork 20, N. Y. 

Printed in US. A. 



Page 

RCA Begins Production of Color TV Sets 3 

Challenges and Opportunities of Today 6 

Guided Missiles 7 

fay P. B. Reed 

Folsom Urges Equal Job Opportunity for All 10 

RCA Atomic Battery 11 

Electronic Sound Absorber 14 

by Dr. Harry F. Olson 

Making Transistors 16 

New York Police Scan Suspects with TV 18 

Television in Japan 19 

Radio Helps to Move a Mountain 21 

fay E. A. Lapori 

Syndicated Film Opens New Field in TV 23 

fay Carl M. Sfanfon 

What I Found Out About Television 24 

fay RosHa Sarnoff 

Versatile Stage Supports New NBC Show 25 

Tangier: Crossroads of Radio 27 

fay Eugene D. Becken 

They Keep the Standards High in Broadcasting 29 

News in Brief 31 




RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA 

RCA Building, New York 20, N.Y. 



DAVID SARNOFF, Chairman of the Board 
JOHN Q. CANNON, Secretary 



FRANK M. FOLSOM, Presidenf 
ERNEST B. GORIN, Treasurer 



v.-# 




'/• 




RCA Begins Production of Color TV Sets; 
Gives Manufacturing "Know-hoiv^^ to Industry 

Plans Announced ro Bring Color TV into American Homes; Deliveries of 
13-Inch Color Receivers Started from Bloomington, Ind., Plant 



Production of the Radio Corporation of America's 
first commercial color television sets began on March 25 
in the Bloomington, Ind., plant of the RCA Victor Home 
Instrument Division as the initial step in a comprehen- 
sive program to bring color television into American 
homes. 

The following day, RCA revealed its color plans to 
seventy competing manufacturers, furnishing detailed 
engineering and manufacturing information on RCA's 
first commercial model — the CT-100. At the same 
time, a full report was made on RCA's manufacturing 
plans and on the National Broadcasting Company's plans 
for colorcasting. 

As a prelude to the meeting of television manufac- 
turers, RCA invited press representatives to Bloomington 
on March 25 for an inspection of its color television 
production line, which is more than two city blocks in 
length and geared to an output of 2,000 color sets a 
month. 

RCA announced that it planned; 

1. To manufacture during 1954 — regarded as the 
"introductory year" for color television — about five 
thousand 15 -inch color receivers and about five thousand 
19-inch color receivers. These quantities can be in- 
creased to meet the public demand as it develops. 

2. To begin shipment of color sets the following 
week. Initial deliveries are going to RCA distributors 
in areas where network color signals can now be received. 
Already, color reception is possible in 35 large cities 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast. It is estimated 
that by the end of 1954, one hundred twenty-five TV 
stations will be equipped for color broadcasts, providing 
coverage for 75 per cent of American homes. 

3. To expand color programming over the NBC net- 
work. By the end of this year, NBC will be colorcasting 
two programs a week from New York and a third from 
Burbank, Calif. In addition, NBC will present a series 
of specially produced ninety-minute shows, "Spectaculars 
in Color," the most elaborate in the history of broad- 
casting, beginning in October, 1954. 

Largest set ever built for television — created for the 
NBC broadcast of "King Richard II." 



J. B. Elliott, Executive Vice-President in charge of 
Consumer Products, discussing the outlook for the color 
television market, said: 

"Basically, as was the case of black-and-white TV, 
we are interested in seeing color television grow, steadily 
and securely, into a national service. This will take a lot 
of doing. Such an undertaking is too big for any one 
firm. It must be an industry-wide project, backed to the 
limit by each of the separate, competitive companies. 

"We believe that the prospects for color television 
today are just as bright as black-and-white's were seven 
years ago. To show the extent of RCA's confidence, 1 
quote the figures we prepared — figures on the sales 
prospects of color receivers during the next five years. 

"During this year and next we believe the demand 
for color sets will exceed the supply. According to our 
estimates, the industry should be able to sell 70,000 
units in 1954, and 350,000 in 1955. 

"During 1956 we believe unit sales will reach 
1,780,000; during 1957, 3,000,000; and during 1958, 
about 5,000,000. These annual sales add up to the very 
satisfactory total of 10,200,000 color sets in use five 
years from now. 

"We believe that the RCA initial model CT-100 
(with a suggested list price of $1,000) will help make 
television history. And we believe the market for color 
is as great as the market for black-and-white television 
was seven years ago." 

hijoiDiatioii to Competitors 

E. C. Anderson, Vice-President of the RCA Com- 
mercial Department, made these comments on the plant 
visit by RCA's set licensees: 

"This visit is another expression of RCA's long- 
standing policy to introduce color television at the 
earliest possible time. We have devoted substantial cash 
and considerable manpower to this important task. We 
believe that the process of continuing research and 
development by RCA and by other companies in this 
vital new field of color will be commercially rewarding 
to the industry within the next few years. 



RAD/O AGE 3 




RCA tricolor tubes are installed in the first commercial production sets at Bloomington, Ind., RCA plant. 



"Color receivers are now ready to enter the market. 
With them comes the need for new studios, new trans- 
mitting equipment, and for new factories to build these 
things. In short, a great new industry is being born. 

"We have made available to our competitors and 
licensees the benefits of our pioneering and costly efforts 
in color as well as in black-and-white television. Since 
1946, we have kept our licensees abreast of our progress 
in the development of compatible color television 
through demonstrations, technical bulletins and other 
informational services. 

"We are fulfilling the promise we made in 1950 
to make available to licensees complete manufacturing 
information on our first commercial color television 
receiver. This information includes an engineering de- 
scription, manufacturing drawings, bill of materials, and 
sources of supply as well as an inspection tour of our 
color production set-up at our Bloomington factory." 

D. Y. Smith, Manager of Marketing, RCA Tube 
Division, told the licensees of RCA production plans for 
tubes, special components and testing equipment. He 
stated that six brand new receiving tubes specifically for 



color television circuits, as well as electronic components 
for color television are now available, and that the Tube 
Division will begin shipments soon of three new items 
of equipment for the servicing of color receivers. 

T. A. Smith, Vice-President in charge of RCA Engi- 
neering Products Division, told of progress in the 
equipping of stations to carry color network programs. 
Early in March, he said, RCA started shipment of addi- 
tional color cameras to both NBC and the Columbia 
Broadcasting System, providing more facilities for pro- 
ducing color programs. In addition, live color cameras 
will be shipped to several independent stations during 
April. 

Announcement of the NBC programming plans was 
made to the licensees by Barry Wood, Executive Pro- 
ducer and Color Coordinator for NBC. 

The Production Line 

The production line shown to the press and the 
licensees turns out the RCA Model CT-IOO, an open- 
face, console-type receiver which has a mahogany cabinet 
and a 13-inch RCA tricolor picture tube. Production of 



4 RADIO AGE 



a second inodel, with 19-incli tube, will start sometime 
later this year. 

The tour, from receiving platforms to loading docks, 
included an inspection of ail-channel UHF ( ultra high 
frequency) and VHF (very high frequency) color tuner 
assemblies. It moved along a base assembly line where 
scores of women installed sub-assemblies, aligned cir- 
cuits and soldered connections and parts in the receiver's 
base chassis. 

It then moved downstairs where men handled the 
work of installing picture tubes, tuners, base assemblies 
and other components in the cabinets. It passed from 
assembly into the test area, where engineers and plant 
technicians brought the color screen to life with vivid 
bar patterns and, even more spectacularly, with a bright 
picture that provided a critical check on color test 
controls. 

The visitors next inspected the crating operation 
where an overhead conveyor deposited cardboard box 
containers onto the moving line — and each container 
packaged a factory tested color set. As a final step, the 
visitors followed the crates into a storage warehouse 
where they were tagged for delivery in early April — 
with American homes as their destination. 

RCA reached the "milestone" of commercial pro- 
duction less than a hundred days after the Federal 
Communications Commission approved standards for 



compatible color television. This nearly halved the 
Corporation's original estimate of six months. 

During February RCA passed the 2,000-a-month 
rate in the production of tricolor picture tubes. This 
rate was achieved three months ahead of schedule. 

The newsmen were welcomed by T. A. Weeks, man- 
ager of the RCA Bloomington plant, who described 
production requirements for a color set, as compared 
with black-and-white. He pointed out that RCA's most 
popular 21 -inch black-and-white set now in production, 
uses a total of 437 parts, including 19 tubes and ap- 
proximately 63 feet of wire. The CT-100 color receiver 
has a total of 1,012 parts including 35 receiving tubes 
and the 15-inch color tube, along with approximately 
150 feet of wire. 

The Bloomington plant, with 1,850 employees, is 
one of the most modern in the nation. Installed there, 
at a cost of more than $500,000, is a newly developed 
test unit to permit factory tuning of color television sets 
to insure faithful color reception. The equipment is, in 
effect, a small-size television station which can transmit 
color test patterns over a closed-circuit in the plant. 

The factory is a two-story stone structure located on 
an 81-acre tract. It has 430,000 square feet of space, of 
which 30,000 are now being utilized for the assembly 
of color television receivers. 



Welding a 19-inch tricolor tube at the Lancaster, Pa., 
RCA plant, where tube is in pilot production. 



RCA color TV cameras undergo final testing at end of 
commercial production line in Camden, N. J. 





Challenges and Opportunities of Today 

Sarnoff, Accepting Humanitarian Award, Says Men Must Learn to Live in 
Unity or Perish— He Urges Greater Understanding Among All Peoples 

TT 

\^ RGING greater understanding among the peoples 
of the world to meet the challenges and opportunities 
of this age, Brig. General David Sarnoff, Chairman of 
the Board of the Radio Corporation of America, told a 
Philadelphia audience on March 3 that either all men 
will learn to live and work together in unity, or all 
men will perish together. 

General Sarnoff was the guest of honor and prin- 
cipal speaker at a dinner at which he was presented 
the 1954 Humanitarian Award of the Golden Slipper 
Square Club. 

"The activities of the Golden Slipper Square Club 
are to be commended precisely because they express the 
living spirit of American democracy, in terms of free- 
dom, good citizenship, neighborliness, tolerance and 
fair play," he said. "You help teach your growing 
community — not by words but by example — that it is 
blessed for brethren to dwell together in peace and unity. 

"It behooves us to learn that lesson quickly because 
the pace of modern life is so swift. In recent years we 
have acquired immense new knowledge and developed 
new means that can destroy civilization. Unless we 
learn to harness those new powers for useful and bene- 
ficient purposes, we shall find ourselves the victims of 
our own progress, trapped by our own genius. 

"That is the great challenge to man if he is to sur- 
vive — not merely in the physical but in the spiritual 
sense. Otherwise, like the patient in the popular story, 
we may die of improvements. Either all men will learn 
to live and work together in unity, or all men will 
perish together as the sun sets over the hills of Time." 

Science and Religion 

Declaring that there is no contradiction between 
science and religion, General Sarnoff continued: "Since 
the dawn of civilization these have been partners in 
humanity's continued efforts to learn the truth about 
itself and the universe, and to convert that truth into 
human values. Science and invention, far from denying 
the divine mystery of life, have made us more aware 
of it. 

"The communion of sun, moon and stars, the winds 
and the rains, reveals the wonders of Nature working 
together in unity and harmony. The invisible electrons 
and atoms alike are parts of a harmonious pattern. But 
humanity, too, is a vast universe of forces which call 



Brig. General David Sarnoff 

for unity. These mortal forces — social, political, eco- 
nomic — must be brought into a pattern of harmony if 
we are to live in peace and prosper, if we are to come 
closer to the divine in man. 

"Our new knowledge of Nature and the modern 
discoveries of science require, more than ever before, 
that man advance spiritually as fast as he strides forward 
technologically. Only by such dual progress can we 
hope to meet the needs of a rapidly changing world. To 
achieve a harmonious blending of material and spiritual 
powers, man will do well to ponder the teachings of 
religion, not only the lessons of science." 

Taking the electron — the tiniest thing in the uni- 
verse — to illustrate how unity leads to achievement in 
the field of science. General Sarnoff pointed out that 
the electron accomplishes little by itself, but multiplied 
and working in harmony with other electrons, it has 
created the Electronic Age. He added: "An atom, by 
itself, is meaningless. But when its nuclear energy is 
released in unison with countless other atoms, there is 
a chain reaction that can influence the course of the 
world for peace or war. 

"Within the past decade we have all entered the 
Electronic and Atomic Age — as apprentices. We are 
(Cnntiniied on page 52) 



6 RADIO AGE 




'mmsi 



tsstles 



Rocket propels a pilotless bomber on its takeoff 



By P. B. Reed 

Vice President in Charge of Government Service, 
RCA Service Company, Inc. 



A 



B-61 pilotless bomber, sleek and deadly in its 
scarlet paint, roars into the air from a Florida beach, 
propelled by a flaming rocket. ... It soars out over 
the Atlantic, flashing over remote islands in the Bahama 
group and disappearing to the southeast. 

On the remote isles near which it passes, electronic 
eyes follow its swift flight, checking any deviation from 
the scheduled path, computing altitude and speed. . . . 
Back at the launching site, electronic ears and brains 
receive constant impulses from the missile itself, record- 
ing engine performance, response to controls and a 
multitude of vital details that tell the story of success 
or failure. . . . 

Far to the southeast, at an unspecified point along 
the 1,000-mile course, the missile reaches the end of its 
path and plunges into the waters of the Atlantic. The 
missile has completed its mission; but it has left behind 
a mass of test data in the form of electronic information 
printed on tape, undeveloped film, graphs and charts — 
all still to be analyzed and combined into a set of 
comprehensive records essential to the missile manu- 
facturer in developing future models. 

The Radio Corporation of America, through the 
RCA Service Company, has taken over the vital func- 



tion of operating and maintaining the hundreds of elec- 
tronic and optical instruments used to track the missiles 
in their flight, collecting and reducing to usable form 
the test data for the manufacturer and the United States 
Air Force, and helping to develop new tracking equip- 
ment and techniques as swifter and longer-range mis- 
siles are tested. 

The operation is based on the Air Force Missile Test 
Center, stretching along the Atlantic coast of Florida 
from Cape Canaveral to Patrick Air Force Base, near 
Cocoa. The center occupies a strip of once nearly 
deserted land between the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian 
River. Established in 1951 by the Air Force, the station 
is the answer to the growing need of the United States 
and its allies for a suitable location to test guided mis- 
siles, drones and pilotless bombers. To seaward, the 
flight range can be opened when necessary as far as 
Puerto Rico, providing a practical length of over 1,000 
miles. 

In May, 1952, the Air Force suggested that certain 
parts of the missile test program could be taken over by 
an industrial concern, with a substantial saving to the 
Federal government. Among the dozen companies which 
competed for the contract, it was apparent that Pan 
American World Airways, with its extensive experience 
in the Caribbean area, and the Radio Corporation of 
America, with its wide knowledge and long experience 
in electronics, were ideally suited for the task. 



rad;o age 7 



Since October, 1953, Pan American and RCA, as a 
sub-contractor, have taken over, bit by bit, the functions 
of the Air Force personnel who had been developing 
and operating the range during the previous three years. 
The executive and organizational talents of R. S. Mitch- 
ell, Division Manager of PAA's Guided Missile Range 
Operation, and A. L. Conrad, RCA's Guided Missile 
Range Operation Manager, have been largely responsible 
for a smooth transition from government to civilian 
operation of the Missile Test Center. 

The jobs which are now falling to the lot of RCA 
engineers and technicians on the range provide a glimpse 
into the awesome complexities of guided missile opera- 
tion. The missiles themselves are among the most com- 
plex mechanisms devised for flight, and the successful 
completion of a single test involves a series of separate 
but closely co-ordinated tracking and recording facilities 
without which the tests would be valueless. 

Preparing for the Test 

When a contractor sends a missile to the center, it 
is taken to one of the hangars at Patrick Air Force Base 
to be meticulously checked by Air Force personnel and 
representatives of the manufacturer. At the same time, 
personnel of RCA's Guided Missile Range Operation 
at the center itself and at the down range tracking sta- 
tions in the Bahama Islands are occupied in testing and 
calibrating the electronic and optical instruments that 
will receive and record data from and about the missile 
during its flight. 

Several distinct groups of scientists and engineers 
will perform key roles in the test that is to come: 

The Systems Analysis and Performance group will 
analyze and evaluate the eff^ectiveness of the range in- 
strumentation services. 

Among the scientists on this task is a slender, in- 
tense German expert. Dr. A. E. Hoffman-Heydeo, a 
specialist in microwaves, whose main function is to 
check the accuracy of the radar tracking apparatus which 
supply data to range instruments and to the Range Safety 
personnel who must make certain that the range is clear 
for a test and must destroy the missile if it strays from 
its course. 

The Precision Instruments Shop, under R. G. Meier, 
prepares the expensive and precise cameras and theodo- 
lites which will record the action of the missile at the 
critical moment of launching. 

The Radar Shop, headed by Judson Eidson, tunes and 
calibrates the tracking radar sets which follow the flight 
of the missile as it hurtles out over the Bahamas. 

The Test Instrument Shop, directed by Willard Van 
Heiningen, calibrates and repairs the meters and other 
test instruments used throughout the project, and operates 



what amounts to a "baby" Bureau of Standards to keep 
existmg and newly developed tracking equipment up 

to Its task. 

Four Aspects of Test Work 

When the missile is launched, the RCA staff will be 
responsible for four critical aspects of the test — elec- 
tronic and optical tracking of the missile in its flight, 
watching over the recording apparatus which receives 
information from the missiles, communicating observa- 
tions from the island outposts back to the launching 
site, and co-ordinating the mass of data into a compre- 
hensive performance record as rapidly as possible. 

For hours, the pre-flight and ground checks continue. 
The missile is taken on a portable launcher to the launch- 
ing site at Cape Canaveral and lined up on a heading 
that will carry it over the least inhabited areas of the 
Bahamas. Meanwhile, reconnaissance bombers, trans- 
ports and crash boats of the Air Force have been warning 
ships and small boats away from the range. Only after 
all patrol craft have declared their areas clear will the 
Range Safety Officer give the final count-down to the 
second of launching. 

Safety precautions are carried to the ultimate, both 
for the personnel in charge of the tests and for all people 
and places the length of the range. Should a missile 
prove defective or appear to be straying from its course 
without the possibility of being guided back, the Range 
Safety Officer destroys it with an electronic signal that 
detonates a destructive charge in the missile. If the 
tracking radar should lose contact with the missile en- 
tirely, a self-destructor circuit automatically goes into 
operation. 

Air Force map shows guided missile range 




8 RAD)0 AGE 




R. G. Meier checks camera that will record takeoff 



Dr. A. E. Hoffman-Heyden adjusts tracking apparatus 



As the final minutes pass, sirens are sounded at the 
launching site and all personnel except cameramen and 
key technicians take shelter inside the three-foot walls 
of the control building at the launching pad or within 
the huge Central Control Building. 

A voice counts the seconds over loudspeakers in the 
buildings — "X minus five - four - three - two - one — " 
and zero is lost in the roar of the flames that jet from 
the booster rocket as the firing button is pressed and the 
glittering missile shoots into the air. The telemeter 
equipment aboard the missile already has started to send 
in its information, and batteries of motion picture and 
still cameras have made their record of the launching. 
The radar tracking which will be continuous from the 
site has begun, and the Air Force F-80's and F-86's 
which follow the flight have slid alongside the missile 
as its booster rocket drops to the ground. 

Once the flight has ended, two more RCA groups 
play their special roles. The Photographic Laboratory, 



directed by M. T. Owensby, gathers in, develops, proc- 
esses and prints the thousands of feet of film that have 
been exposed, while the Data Reduction Branch reduces 
to usable graphs and charts the tape records of the 
flight that have been recorded electronically from the 
missile. These records, classified, organized and reduced 
to usable form, will give the manufacturer the informa- 
tion he needs to determine whether his missile is doing 
the job for which it was built. Once the records are 
completed, the job is done — until the next flight. 

Thus RCA, together with Pan American World Air- 
ways, is taking on another vital task in the interest of 
national security. Out of the experience of the Guided 
Missile Center may come not only the most eflfective 
weapons that modern science can build, but wider 
knowledge leading to the development of electronic 
surveying and computing techniques of inestimable 
value in the future to a society at peace. 



RCA Begins Deliveries 

Of Powerful TV Transmitter 

A 50-kilowatt television transmitter, the most power- 
ful yet produced by the Radio Corporation of America. 
was shipped from the RCA Engineering Products Divi- 
sion plant in Camden, N. J., in mid-February to Stations 
WMIN-TV and WTCN-TV, which will share its use 
on Channel 11 in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. 

The new VHF (very high frequency) transmitter, 
used with a custom-built nine-section super-gain antenna 
already delivered by RCA, will place the stations among 



the most powerful television outlets in the country, 
boosting their effective radiated power to the 316-kilo- 
watt maximum allowed by the Federal Communications 
Commission. 

New amplifier and modulator circuit features assure 
maximum fidelity of both sound and picture transmis- 
sion, RCA engineers said. The transmitter has been 
designed to operate at altitudes up to 7,500 feet and in 
temperatures up to 113 degrees. 

Initial units of the 50-kilowatt transmitter have al- 
ready been shipped to a number of other stations 
throughout the country. 



RADIO AGE 9 



Folsom Urges Equal Job Opportunity for All 



wJucCESS of the non-discrimination policy followed by 
the Radio Corporation of America in its employment 
program was cited to a Subcommittee of the United 
States Senate on February 23 by Frank M. Folsom, 
President of RCA, in a statement advocating passage by 
Congress of legislation based on the principle of equal 
job opportunity for all, regardless of race, creed or color. 

Testifying before the Subcommittee on Civil Rights 
of the Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, 
Mr, Folsom said that such action by Congress would be 
"a giant step toward elimination of discriminatory prac- 
tices and thus beneficial in helping to foster democratic 
principles not only in this country but throughout the 
world." 

The Subcommittee, considering bills to prohibit dis- 
crimination in employment, invited Mr. Folsom to 
testify on the basis of RCA's experience in practicing a 
non-discriminatory policy since the founding of the 
corporation in 1919. 

"Having always practiced non-discrimination in 
hiring and promoting personnel," Mr. Folsom said, 
"RCA has a substantial number of employees drawn 
from minority groups — particularly Negroes. These 
individuals have shown a high degree of skill and apti- 
tude, they have been willingly accepted as co-workers by 
those with whom they work, and community reaction 
has been favorable wherever RCA plants are located." 

Good Business as well as Principle 

While RCA is in no way unique among manage- 
ments in practicing non-discrimination in employment, 
Mr. Folsom added, "we are proud to be among those 
who have practiced it from the start." He continued: 

"We fully believe that non-discrimination in employ- 
ment is not only a matter of principles; it is also a matter 
of good business. Our minority groups can contribute 
relatively as much in the way of technical skills as any 
other part of our population, as RCA experience is 
showing. These groups also form a considerable market 
for the output of American industry, and they can be 
counted upon to consume more of this output as their 
standards of living are raised." 

Mr. Folsom told the Senators that implementation of 
any such policy must be tailored to the nature of the 
company that practices it, but he emphasized these 
basic considerations in RCA experience that would apply 
to any type of business: 1) solid support by top man- 
agement for non-discrimination in employment; 2 ) 
knowledge of the levels of education and of attitudes 




Frank M. Folsom 

among the working force, local minority groups and the 
community, and 3) firm application of the policy 
throughout the working force. 

"These elements have been a basic part of the RCA 
experience," he said. 

Prompted by the firm top management attitude favor- 
ing non-discrimination, "the various divisions and sub- 
sidiaries of RCA have established their own programs to 
make the most effective use of the skills and talents 
offered by our minority groups for the wide range of 
production and servicing operations in which RCA spe- 
cializes," Mr. Folsom said. 

Emphasizing that any member of a minority group 
has a right to work at any job he is capable of perform- 
ing, Mr. Folsom continued: 

"Aside from the moral and social considerations, we 
have acted too in the realization that job discrimination 
against any of our people on the basis of race or creed 
weakens us in the face of adversaries who would destroy 
our democratic system. 

"From the standpoint of good business, it is worth 
re-emphasizing that the policy of hiring people for 
what they can do, rather than for who they may happen 
to be, is hardly sentimental indulgence. The products 
manufactured for competitive trade are as good as the 
manpower that makes them, and the consumer is not 
concerned about whether the hands that made an item 
are black or white, or whether the maker goes to one 
church or another. 



JO RADIO AGE 



RCA Atomic Battery 



A 



MAJOR advance in the production of low-power 
electrical energy directly from atomic energy was un- 
veiled by RCA on January 27, when Brig. General David 
Sarnoff, Chairman of the Board of RCA, displayed for 
the first time a tiny, experimental atomic battery capable 
of operating a transistor. 

In the presence of science writers and newsmen as- 
sembled in his office at Radio City, New York, General 
Sarnoff demonstrated the ability of the device to produce 
usable electricity directly from a minute quantity of 
radioactive material — strontium-90 — obtained as a 
by-product of atomic reactor operation. The current was 
applied for the demonstration to an audio oscillator in 
which a steady, high-pitched tone was produced. 

"This development, though still in the pioneer stage, 
may prove to be the beginning of a new and basic 
chapter in man's efforts to utilize some of the enormous 
untapped energies within the nucleus of the atom for 
peaceful purposes and for the enrichment of human life 
rather than its destruction," General Sarnoff said. "Al- 
though it is still too soon to know all the uses to which 
this direct conversion of nuclear energy might be put, 
the prospect of an entirely different kind of power source 
is a particularly exciting one for the electronics industry." 

The performance of the experimental battery was 
hailed by the press and other media throughout the 
country as a major contribution to the peaceful applica- 
tion of atomic energy and a development of immense 
promise for the future. Admiral Lewis L. Strauss, Chair- 
man of the Atomic Energy Commission, in a letter to 
General Sarnoff, emphasized the potential usefulness of 
the development in the communications field and con- 
cluded: "Your research department is due for con- 
gratulations." 

Consists of Two Small Units 

The demonstration battery, the product of a research 
program started in the RCA Laboratories Division im- 
mediately after World War II, consists of two extremely 
small units — the radioactive source and a thin wafer of 
semi-conducting crystal (germanium or silicon) into 
which an impurity has been alloyed to form a junction 
similar electrically to those used in a junction transistor. 
Current is produced when the units are brought together, 
permitting the electrons emitted from the source to 




Both elements of the battery — semi-conducting crystal, 

held in tweezer, and layer of radioactive material, on 

cylinder — are shown under magnifying glass. 



bombard the semi-conductor. But where previous experi- 
mental methods had succeeded in converting to usable 
current only the single electron supplied by each bom- 
barding electron, the new battery achieved the produc- 
tion of 200,000 useful electrons by each bombarding 
electron. This large multiplication was made possible by 
the employment of the semiconductor material. 

"It is this extraordinary multiplication in the number 
of available electrons which promises to make the atomic 
battery a usable device of practical significance," Gen- 
eral Sarnoff said. 

"Progress in increasing the efficiency of the RCA 
Atomic Battery has been rapid during the past few 
months and is expected to continue," he added. "Results 
to date indicate the possibilities of producing thimble- 
size, atomic batteries. When these experimental bat- 
teries are developed to a commercial stage, they can 
supply power for radio receivers and other kinds of 



RADIO AGE 11 



electronic apparatus, without replenishment or attention 
for at least twenty years." 

General Sarnoff foresaw application of commercial 
atomic batteries as reliable, long-life power sources foi 
portable and pocket-size radio receivers, hearing aids and 
signal control. With the development of such batteries 
producing greater power than the present experimental 
models, further possibilities arise for their use in 
operating portable short-range transmitters for radio, 
telegraph and telephone communication and for radio 
beacons for air or sea navigation, he said. 

"Of great importance is the fact that such atomic 
batteries will be highly compatible with future equip- 
ment using transistors," he added. "Both the battery and 
the transistor have the potential advantages of compact- 
ness, ruggedness and long life." 

Direct Source of Energy 

Further possible applications were foreseen by Dr. 
E. W. Engstrom, Executive Vice President in Charge, 
RCA Laboratories Division, who emphasized the basic 
importance of generating electrical power directly from 
atomic energy. Where previous proposals for power 
production have involved atomic fuel to produce heat 
for steam-powered turbines and generators, the atomic 
battery converts atomic energy directly into electrical 
energy without intermediate processes. 

"If the promise of the atomic battery is ultimately 
fulfilled on a large scale," he said, "boilers, engines and 



EXPERIMENTAL RCA ATOMIC BATTERY 



RADIOACTIVE 
SOURCE 



SEMI-CONDUCTOR 
/ WAFER 




TRANSISTOR-LIKE 
,' JUNCTION 



ONE RADIATED ELECTRON 
RELEASES 200,000 
ADDITIONAL ELECTRONS 



6- 

OUTPUT 

+ 



Diagram shows how the battery operates. 
72 RADIO AGE 



electrical generators would increasingly become elements 
of the past. Instead of distributing power over long 
distances — a costly process — atomic generators could 
be installed at or near places where power is to be used. 
These future batteries would be designed as 'on-the-spot' 
energy sources for specific installations, whether a radio 
beacon or an individual home. 

"Naturally, much fundamental work and applied re- 
search remains to be done and many years will elapse 
before such a goal is attained; nevertheless, this prospect 
offers a bright hope for mankind," he said. 

The atomic battery demonstrated by General Sarnoff 
produces a tiny amount of electrical energy — one 
millionth of a watt — but this is sufficient to power a 
transistor audio circuit producing a tone audible twenty 
feet away, and it demonstrates the basic practicality of 
converting atomic energy directly into usable electric 
current by a simple method capable of broad develop- 
ment. Until recently, radioactive battery devices pro- 
duced no more than one billionth of a watt of power 
under conditions suitable for transistor operation. 

The demonstration device is a result of combining 
studies of the basic problems of radioactive generation 
of electricity conducted by RCA over the past few years 
with recent RCA developments in the fields of tran- 
sistors, semi-conductors, and in the broad area of solid- 
state electronics. In RCA's experiments with atomic 
batteries. Dr. Engstrom said, both silicon and germanium 
crystals have been tried as "transformers" of the beta 
radiation to useful electricity, and materials other than 
strontium-90 have been and are under study as possible 
improved sources of radiation. 

The research program in this field, headed by Dr. 
Irving Wolff and Dr. Ernest G. Linder, of the RCA 
Laboratories Division, has investigated a number of ap- 
proaches, gaining an understanding of the problems to 
an extent that has been of great value in achieving the 
present atomic battery — developed by Paul Rappaport, 
physicist on the technical staff of the David Sarnoff 
Research Center of RCA at Princeton, N. J. 

Vacuum-Type Generator Tried 

Early research following the end of the war centered 
on development of a vacuum-type radioactive generator, 
and one of the first types built was a vacuum tube the 
size of a football in which a small amount of radioactive 
material built up huge voltages but could provide only 
a minute current. After further investigation, a radio- 
active voltage source was built which did not require a 
vacuum. But while this produced voltages at usable 
levels, each bombarding electron could produce no more 
than one electron for the output. 




Brig. General David SarnofF with demonstration battery. 



Attention was then turned to the field of solid-state 
electronics — in which transistor development was taking 
place — and it was here that the path was found that 
led to the RCA atomic battery. 

The strontium-90 used in the atomic battery is a 
highly active source of beta particles — high speed 
electrons — and is one of the long-lived beta-emitting 
substances. Its half-life is roughly twenty years, meaning 
that half of its radioactivity is dissipated every twenty 
years. It is one of the most abundant of the materials 
resulting from the fission of uranium in a nuclear re- 
actor, and, like other radioactive materials being studied 
for possible use, can be expected to be available in 
increasing amounts at lower cost as more nuclear reactors 
are put into operation. 

In the battery, a minute quantity of the strontium 
( I/300th of a cubic centimeter, or an amount that would 
fill a cube 1/I6th of an inch on a side) is spread in a 
thin layer against the junction wafer. The layer of 
strontium bombards the semi-conducting crystal wafer 
with several billion electrons each second, and as the 
electrons penetrate the wafer they release many more 
electrons — an average of 200,000 for each bombarding 
electron. 

The released electrons flow across the wafer's junc- 
tion, producing a voltage which can be applied to an 
electronic circuit and cause a current to flow. The elec- 



tron action within the crystal wafer is known as the 
electron-voltaic effect, a phenomenon of solid-state 
physics which heretofore has not been put to any prac- 
tical use. 

While almost any radioactive material could be used 
to supply the energy of an atomic battery in theory, 
strontium-90 was selected for its high energy beta radia- 
tion, relatively long life, low shielding requirements and 
availability in experimental quantities from the Atomic 
Energy Commission. Since the strontium-90 obtainable 
at the present time is not completely free of other fission 
products which emit unwanted gamma radiation, the 
experimental battery has had to be shielded in a lead 
container which adds considerably to its size and weight. 
Use of purified strontium-90, which emits only beta 
particles, would greatly reduce the required shielding for 
the minute quantities required in an atomic battery. 

One problem that remains to be overcome at the 
present stage of research is the determination of the 
effect of beta radiation on the crystal wafer. It is known 
that the crystal structure of many substances is gradually 
damaged by bombarding electrons, and investigations 
now are directed at minimizing these effects to make 
them negligible for the structures used in the atomic 
battery. 



Turkish President Sees Color TV 
On Tour of NBC Headquarters 

President Celal Bayar of Turkey included a tour of 
the National Broadcasting Company's Radio City head- 
quarters and a first view of color television during his 
first visit to the United States in late January. 

The President and Madame Bayar were greeted by 
Frank M. Folsom, President of RCA; Sylvester L 
Weaver, Jr., President of NBC; Robert W. SarnofF, Ex- 
ecutive Vice-President of NBC; Thompson H. Mitchell, 
President of RCA Communications; Mead Brunet, Vice- 
President and Managing Director of the RCA Interna- 
tional Division, and NBC officials. 

The tour included a dress rehearsal of the first color 
telecast of "Zoo Parade," which featured the natural 
ability of animals to adapt themselves to their environ- 
ment. President Bayar became so interested in the pro- 
gram that he remained 15 minutes beyond the scheduled 
time for this portion of the tour. Later he visited the 
set of a television drama in rehearsal and inspected con- 
trol room facilities. 

At the end of his NBC tour, President Bayar was 
escorted at his own request to the roof of the towering 
RCA Building for a view of New York City from above. 



RADIO AGE 73 



Electronic Sound Absorber 



By Dr. Harry F. Olson 

Director, Acoustical Research Laboratory 
RCA Laboratories Division 



E. 



yLECTRONic science is going to work to cancel out 
some of the sound you are about to hear, with an ag- 
gressive device that reaches out to knock down the 
sound waves before they have a chance to land with 
their full impact on the ear. 

This novel application of electronics is being devel- 
oped at the David Sarnoff Research Center of RCA at 
Princeton, N. J., in an electronic sound absorber that 
will cope with the variety of deep noises associated with 
motors, the hum of conversation in a crowded hall, or 
even with heavy snoring. The first model has demon- 
strated in tests its ability to cut sounds in this category 
by as much as 10 to 25 decibels in the vicinity of the 
ear. In everyday terms, this is equivalent to reducing to 
at least one quarter the engine noise level in the average 
bus, or eliminating almost entirely the steady hum of 
your car as it is driven along at cruising speed. 

Ultimately, electronic sound absorbers installed in 
seats aboard planes, buses and other vehicles that produce 
a deep and persistent noise may mean greater comfort 
for passengers. Others placed near noisy machines in 
factories and workshops can ease the task of the worker. 
Groups of such absorbers built into the corners of audi- 
toriums, assembly rooms and dining halls can increase 
the pleasure of meal hours and large gatherings. You 
may even look forward to better sleeping with a sound 
absorber near your bed. 

The electronic sound absorber works by turning 
sound waves back against themselves, and in the process 
it performs a job that conventional types of sound- 




proofing material cannot handle efficiently. All sounds 
consist of waves of air that are similar in behavior to 
the waves in water, and they cause the atmospheric pres- 
sure to rise and fall with a rhythm and intensity that 
depends on the nature of the disturbance from which 
they originate. The tone we hear depends on the fre- 
quency of the sound waves — the longer the waves, the 
deeper the tone. 

Present sound absorbing systems are based on the 
use of porous materials containing a maze of tiny pas- 
sages in which the energy of sound waves is dissipated. 
But this type of sound-proofing works most effectively 
at the upper end of the sound scale. To dissipate the 
longer waves of sound in the lower frequencies, the 
thickness of the porous material must be increased. In 
the low frequency range of engine noise and other deep 
sounds, an absorbing system based on these materials 
becomes too bulky for most practical uses. 

Absorber Creates Counter-Waves 

The electronic sound absorber tackles the problem 
not by trying to catch the sound waves in a trap, but by 
creating counter-waves that reduce their force or cancel 
them entirely ■ — • somewhat in the fashion of waves on 
the surface of water being levelled by a similar disturb- 
ance travelling in the opposite direction. 

The device consists of three units — a special elec- 



LOUDSPEAKER 



MICROPHONE 




Left, diagram of sound absorber. 

Drawings at right and above show 

possible installations. 




AMPLIFIER 

LOUDSPEAKER 

MICROPHONE 



M RADIO AGE 



tronic microphone, an amplifier, and a specially-designed 
small speaker. The microphone, reacting instantaneously 
to the changes in atmospheric pressure caused by the 
sound waves, translates these changes into electrical im- 
pulses that pass through the amplifier and emerge from 
the speaker, directly behind the microphone, as counter- 
waves of equal and opposite pressure. The effect, within 
a few feet of the speaker, is a substantial levelling of the 
changes in air pressure and hence a reduction or even 
elimination of the oncoming sound. 

The principle on which the electronic sound absorber 
works was conceived some time ago, but the application 
became practical only in recent years with the develop- 
ment of the electronic microphone. Among the partic- 
ular advantages of the microphone are its uniform sensi- 
tivity and response in the low-frequency range with the 
result that it will perform consistently over a range of 
mo.-e than three octaves. 

The heart of the microphone is a tiny vacuum tube 
called a mechano-electronic transducer, which contains a 
rod connecting one element of the tube through a 
vacuum-tight shell directly to the diaphragm of the 
microphone.' The vibration of the diaphragm by the 
oncoming sound waves is thus transferred directly into 




Dr. H. F. Olson, left, and E. G. May, who assisted in the 

project, test first model near a pump at the David 

SarnofF Research Center of RCA in Princeton, N.J. 



a vibration of one of the elements in the tube, develop- 
ing the current which is passed to the amplifier and the 
loudspeaker. 

The design of the loudspeaker was guided by the fact 
that in this type of operation, the back of the loudspeaker 
mechanism has to be enclosed to ensure complete non- 
interference. To keep this enclosure small in the interest 
of portability and easy installation, the speaker was 
designed with a cone diameter of only 5V2 inches. 

Operates On Battery or House Current 

The sound absorber can be built to operate either on 
battery power or on house current. The first develop- 
mental model, using a ten-tube transformerless, direct 
coupled amplifier, was built for battery power so that it 
could be tested in locations remote from power lines. 
A second model, on which work is now progressing, will 
use an amplifier of only four or five tubes, with a suitable 
transformer coupling the tube to the loudspeaker. Ulti- 
mately, a transistor amplifier can be developed, permit- 
ting a far more compact and economical unit. 

The design of the absorber means that the micro- 
phone and speaker, forming a combined unit, can be 
installed at some distance from the amplifier and ad- 
jacent to the head of an airplane or automobile passenger 
or a machine operator. There are numerous possible 
jobs for a spot-type low-frequency noise reducer where 
the position of the person subject to such noise is fixed. 
In a bedroom, a sound absorber operating on house cur- 
rent could be installed near the head of a sleeper to cut 
down traffic noises and other low-frequency sounds. 

Other possible applications can be found near the 
source of the noises rather than adjacent to the ear: 
examples are the location of one or more sound absorbers 
next to a noisy motor or at the outlet of an air-condi- 
tioning duct already lined with sound-proofing materials 
to intercept the higher frequency sounds. 

The absorber also can be used in the same manner as 
conventional wall materials in a room to handle the 
low-frequency waves that now escape. Three of them 
placed at the intersection of two walls with a ceiling, 
for example, would catch oncoming low-frequency 
sounds before the waves could reach the surfaces to 
rebound as echoes. 

A substantial period of laboratory development lies 
ahead before the electronic sound absorber reaches the 
stage of commercial production. But in view of the 
absence today of efficient sound protection in the low- 
frequency range, the new device would seem to have 
plenty of work cut out for it in quieting much of the 
heavy noise that is an unwelcome part of our daily life. 



' Editor's note: the mechano-electronic transducer and the 
microphone were developed originally by Dr. Olson. 



RADIO AGE 75 



Making Transistors 



The transistor, a laboratory curiosity six years ago, is today 
a commercial product of considerable importance and in- 
calculable promise for the future. Unlike the electron tube, 
which controls electrons in a vacuum, the transistor controls 
them in a solid — a crystal of purified germanium. Two types 
have been developed: the point-contact, with many applica- 
tions in high-speed switching and control, and the junction, 
useful as a low and medium-frequency amplifier. These pic- 
tures, taken at the RCA Tube Division plant in Harrison, 
N. J., show a few of the close-tolerance processes in their 
manufacture. 





Point-contact 
transistor 



Purifying and "Growing" Germanium 

A germanium ingot is moved past heat induction coils, 
' collecting impurities at trailing end. 

A "seed" of purified germanium slowly draws molten 

2 germanium from electric furnace in form of single 

large crystal, essential for electron flow in transistors. 

Assembling the Point-Contact Transistor 

Pinhead bits of germanium crystal are soldered on tiny 
^ supports for assembly in transistors. 



Under a microscope, technician joins crystal and sup- 
port assembly to center lead of the transistor. 

An eye-dropper is used to apply plastic coating that 
protects transistor from light and air. 



Assembling the Junction Transistor 

Tiny "sandwiches," formed by fixing slightly impure 
(f germanium pellets to crystal wafer, go into electric 
furnace for fusing. 



Resistance of "sandwiches" is tested on circuit formed 
by metal bar and spring arm above tweezers. 

Jig holds transistor before nozzle of hydrogen furnace 
to solder wire contacts to pellets on crystal wafer. 

Trained inspector checks semi-finished transistors for 
flaws before final treatment and packaging. 




New York Police Scan Suspects with TV 



Industrial television took on a new role in law 
enforcement on February 8 when the New York Police 
Department flashed a staged version of the daily "line- 
up" of suspects from its headquarters in Manhattan to 
receivers at the Brooklyn police headquarters, seven 
miles away. 

Using a small RCA industrial television camera and 
receivers joined by a microwave link, the demonstration 
was arranged by the police and the Radio Corporation 
of America as an initial glimpse for city officials and 
the press of a technique that can save the police of New 
York and other large cities thousands of man-hours 
each year and can increase public security by speeding 
up a number of law-enforcement procedures. 

The "line-up," held daily at police headquarters in 
Manhattan, gives detectives from precincts throughout 
the city an opportunity to view all persons recently 
arrested for felonies or major misdemeanors. At pres- 
ent, this requires a number of detectives to travel each 
day from their precincts in all parts of the city to head- 
quarters. Installation of a television system with re- 
ceivers in the precinct stations, however, would make it 
unnecessary for the detectives to leave their posts and 
spend considerable time travelling to headquarters in 
order to look at the latest arrests. 

The demonstration on February 8 drew praise for 
the system from Mayor Robert F. Wagner and Police 
Commissioner Francis W. H. Adams, both of whom 
visited the line-up room in Manhattan to watch the 
test. Supervising the operation were Assistant Chief 
Inspector Francis A. Burns, commanding officer of the 
police department's Communications and Records Di- 



vision, and Barton Kreuzer, industrial marketing man- 
ager of RCA. A throng of reporters, newsreel camera- 
men and television news photographers were on hand, 
and detectives played the part of suspects in a highly 
realistic special "line-up" staged for the occasion. 

Elements of System 

The equipment used for the test included a standard 
RCA television camera, built around the cigar-size 
Vidicon camera pickup tube, and a number of modified 
RCA table model TV receivers. The signals from the 
camera in the line-up room were sent out from a dish- 
shaped microwave transmitter mounted on the head- 
quarters building to a microwave relay booster on top of 
the Empire State Building. Here they were amplified 
and re-transmitted to a receiving microwave antenna on 
the Brooklyn police headquarters building. 

Besides the advantages of such a system in elimina- 
ting the need for personal attendance by detectives at the 
line-up, industrial television can be used for transmitting 
photographs to precinct stations and would enable the 
Commissioner and other officials to address the entire 
police force simultaneously when necessary. 

The New York demonstration represented the first 
use of RCA industrial television to send police informa- 
tion through the air to distant points, but it was not 
the first use of such equipment in police work. Eight 
RCA industrial TV camera chains have been in use for 
nearly a year in the Houston, Tex., city jail to monitor 
prisoner activities within the building, and Los Angeles 
police used the equipment to trap thieves suspected of 
stealing television tubes from an RCA warehouse. 



Looking at police "line-up" on television screen, left to right, are Barton Kreuzer, industrial marketing manager of 
RCA, New York's Mayor Robert F. Wagner and Police Commissioner Francis W. H. Adams. 




fl» - 



Television in Japan 



X 



.ENSE faces, straining over shoulders to catch the 
image on the screen, the crack of a baseball bat, "oh's" 
and "ah's" from a partisan throng: this has become a 
familiar scene in Tokyo's main boulevards since the 
arrival of television. Through cherry tree groves, over 
rice paddies, and around majestic Mt. Fuji, the invisible 
beams from RCA-equipped stations reach a growing and 
eager audience of Japanese viewers. 

Only a little over a year old, television in Japan is 
rapidly maturing, both technically and artistically. In a 
constant effort to merge the advances of the West with 
Japan's own great cultural past, TV is playing an in- 
creasingly significant role. Meeting enthusiastic responses 
from all segments of Japanese society, television is mak- 
ing rapid strides in providing the medium for education 
and entertainment. 

Crowds that formerly gathered around public news- 
paper bulletin boards and radios for the latest political 
and sports news, now cluster in even greater numbers 
around stores displaying television sets. Ardent sports 
enthusiasts, the Japanese jam thoroughfares to watch 
telecasts of baseball, sumo (Japanese wrestling), hockey, 
soccer and other sports. 

Theater performances of all types, as well as old 
movies, are also televised. In the late afternoon, children's 
programs, as yet without interplanetary complications. 
hold the small fry enthralled. In the evening, the TV 
viewer can see his favorite Kabuki (Japanese classical 
play) performance on sets in store windows, restaurants, 
or in his own home. 

Newscasts regularly punctuate the full day's TV fare, 
often bringing the excitement of a debate in the Diet or 
the Prime Minister's news conference before the eyes 
of the voting public. Musical programs are particular 
favorites and run the gamut from the traditional Japan- 
ese music to modern jazz. Like their American counter- 
parts, the television networks in Japan also present ama- 
teur hours, quiz programs, variety shows, and round table 
discussions, though the latter are marked by a gentleness 
and reasonableness, sometimes lacking on similar pro- 
grams in the Western world. 

Difference in Program Standards 

Actually, it is impossible to compare Japanese pro- 
gramming to American, as their standards are often 
quite opposite from ours. For instance, where Americans 
consider the lavishness of a production a criterion of 
artistry, the Japanese consider studied simplicity the 

RADIO AGE 79 



pinnacle of artistic perfection. By American standards 
some Japanese productions seem flimsy, while by theirs, 
some American productions are in bad taste. 

Through educational films and programs, television 
in Japan is aiding in the fight against communism and 
is helping to spread democratic ideas. Television is also 
stressing the growing role of women in Japanese society, 
and programs, both informative and entertaining, are 
being produced especially for women. 

Television facilities of the National Broadcasting 
Company — with its key station WNBT in New York 




An NTV camera focuses on a children's drama 



A cooking lesson for viewers of NHK 




and 168 affiliated stations — have afforded prime train- 
ing grounds for Japanese engineers, technicians and 
studio personnel desirous of employing in their country's 
budding TV broadcasting industry the latest and best 
proven techniques. 

Through arrangements made by the RCA Interna- 
tional Division and NBC, many of the future leaders of 
Japanese television have journeyed across the Pacific to 
avail themselves of this training and to familiarize them- 
selves with "know-how" that can be readily applied upon 
their return to Tokyo. And, in turn, NBC has benefitted 
by contact with the inquiring minds of the alert and 
interested visitors. 

At present, many of the approximately 8,000 exist- 
ing receivers are in public places such as store windows, 
restaurants, depots, and hotels so that large segments of 
the metropolitan population are reached. In small-sized 
communities, plans are progressing to install TV re- 
ceivers in schools or theaters, thus greatly increasing the 
potential audience of a single set. The number of sets 
is still small, but because prices have been steadily drop- 
ping and because Japan looks forward to mass produc- 
tion in the near future, the Japanese expect that by 1958 
hundreds of thousands and maybe up to a million sets 
will be in use. The Japanese TV receiver industry is 
making constant progress toward low cost production. 

Licenses from RCA 

The Radio Corporation of America has licensed, 
under RCA patents, members of the industry on a non- 
exclusive basis. The use of RCA inventions will help 
Japanese manufacturers to advance more rapidly toward 
their goal of making better and less expensive television 
receivers. RCA is currently setting up an Industry Serv- 
ice Laboratory in Tokyo to assist the set manufacturers 
in solving their technical problem^. 

The 17-inch receiver is the most prevalent size of 
the TV sets in use. The remainder are 21-, 19-, 14-, 
10- and 7-inch models. Easy time payment plans have 
been devised to facilitate the buying of receivers. About 
twenty-five per cent of sales are parts sales for home 
assembly of television sets — a tribute to the high tech- 
nical skill and resourcefulness of the Japanese people. 

Three broadcasting organizations have been licensed 
by the government to operate television stations. In 
each case, RCA transmitters, as well as other television 
equipment, have been chosen. RCA flew the first trans- 
mitter over to Japan to equip the television station of 
the Broadcasting Corporation of Japan (known as 
NHK). NHK, which began regular telecasts in Febru- 
ary, 1953, is a public corporation, similar in organization 
to the BBC in London, and operates two radio networks 
consisting of 83 stations, blanketing the nation and con- 



tributing to the high standards of an informed public. 

NHK now operates three television stations, one in 
Tokyo, one in Osaka and another in Nagoya. It is plan- 
ning a network of TV stations which will cover the 
whole of Japan and will include the building and 
operation of 32 stations in the next five years. In the 
next fiscal year alone, the company intends to add four 
more stations. NHK, which is headed by Mr. Tetsuro 
Furukaki, hopes to reach a potential of sixty-two per 
cent of Japanese homes by 1958. 

Besides transmitters, RCA supplied NHK with two 
custom-built antennas. The first is a single section 
super-gain to be used for emergency operation. The 
second is a six-section super-turnstile used as the main 
antenna. Both operate in our FM bands. 

By Japanese law, NHK is entitled to collect fees 
from all owners of radio and television sets in order to 
finance programming; therefore, its stations operate 
without commercials or sponsors. 

Commercial Network Planned 

The Nippon Television Network Corporation, a 
privately owned company, began regular telecasts in 
August, 1953. Leading newspapers and industrial corpo- 
rations are stockholders in the organization, of which 
Mr. Matsutaro Shoriki is president. The company's 
future plans call for an all-Japan commercial TV net- 
work based on a principal station in Tokyo and in- 
cluding a chain of relay stations within range of one 
another on mountain tops throughout the islands. The 
station is completely self-contained with its own power 
plant, air conditioned studios, film rooms, technical sec- 
tion, theater property and other departments. 

Cosmetic manufacturers, pharmaceutical houses, food 
and beverage dispensers and radio and television manu- 
facturers are among the sponsors and advertisers on the 
commercial station. 

Radio Tokyo is another privately-owned company 
that has a television license. This company, directed by 
Mr. Tadashi Adachi, is the largest of the privately-owned 
radio stations and has an RCA television transmitter on 
order. Expecting to go on the air this year. Radio 
Tokyo now has under construction a building especially 
designed for television broadcasting. 

RCA supplied 12 section super-turnstile antennas to 
both the Nippon Television Network Corporation and 
Radio Tokyo. All of the antennas were especially built 
to specifications called for by the Japanese climate and 
will withstand the perennial typhoons and a wind speed 
of 150 miles per hour. In addition to the 10-kilowatt 
transmitters and custom-built antennas, RCA has sold 
a number of cameras, studio equipment, mobile units 
(Continued on page 32) 



7.0 RADIO AGE 




JI ^Y^ ,.^,^ ,.„^ 



RCA transmitters — one type is shown at the left — will 

provide complete intercommunications during the 

mining and shipments of ore from South American 

mines to the United States. 



Radio Helps to Move a Mountain 



By E. A. Laport 

Chief Engineer, 

RCA International Division 



Mc 



.ODERN radio is in the thick of one of the greatest 
mining operations in history as American enterprise 
prepares to tote a mountain 2,000 miles to help satisfy 
the nation's enormous appetite for steel. Playing an 
important role in the project is the Radio Corporation of 
America whose communications systems and equipment 
link the various segments of the operations. 

After a journey by rail and sea, the first shipload of 
high-grade iron ore from the fabulous Cerro Bolivar, a 
mountain of iron in the heart of Venezuela, was delivered 
in January to the sprawling new Fairless Works of 
United States Steel at Morrisville, Pa. More will follow 
to other U. S. Steel plants. In the deposit are an estimated 



400,000,000 tons, representing perhaps the greatest single 
accessible high-grade ore deposit discovered since the 
opening of the rapidly depleting Mesabi Range in Min- 
nesota. Exploitation of the supply is being undertaken 
by the Orinoco Mining Company, a subsidiary of the 
Steel Corporation. 

Transforming an isolated prominence on the Vene- 
zuelan landscape into the starting point of a 2000-mile 
supply line which leads to mills in the United States 
has required the skillful application of the most modern 
engineering and industrial techniques. Included in the 
plans has been a communications system capable of net- 
working the scattered points of operation both during 
construction and after the start of operations. 

In a region virtually devoid of communications 
facilities at the start, RCA radio has provided the vast 
project with a high frequency and microwave network. 
These facilities keep field units in touch with construc- 



RAD/O AGE 2? 



tion headquarters; provide radio telephone and teletype 
communications between the project and executive offices 
in Caracas, 270 miles away; permit conversation over a 
206-mile triangle linking the mine and railhead at Cerro 
Bolivar with head offices at Ciudad Bolivar and the 
newly constructed port of Puerto Ordaz at the mouth 
of the Caroni River, and help to control traffic on the 
90-mile single-track railroad from the mine to the port 
through remote operation of signals and switches. 

Rail Traffic Control 

Like the Cerro Bolivar project itself, the remote 
control system which handles two-way traffic on the 
single line railroad is itself a revolutionary development. 
The use of a microwave channel in conjunction with a 
railroad signal system was first tested in 1946 by RCA, 
Union Switch & Signal (a division of Westinghouse Air- 
brake Co.), Western Union and the Pennsylvania Rail- 
road over a 900 mile circuit linking Washington, Phila- 
delphia, New York and Pittsburgh. On the Venezuela 
project, the system developed through these tests has 
been put to regular use for the first time. 

The system utilizes RCA facilities installed to handle 
telephone and teletype communications as well as the 
radio waves controlling signals and switches at the four 
sidings along the railroad. Radio towers capable of 
carrying the microwave channel and transmitting and 
receiving VHF-FM have been located at both Cerro 
Bolivar and Puerto Ordaz, and each of the locations is 
equipped with two transmitters, two receivers, two trans- 
mitting aerials and two receiving aerials. 

The two sidings nearest the port are governed by 
waves transmitted from the Puerto Ordaz tower, while 
the two nearest the mine are controlled by waves sent 
over the microwave channel from the port to Cerro 
Bolivar tower. The transmitting and receiving facilities, 
together with centralized traffic control and coded carrier 
systems developed by United Switch & Signal, enable a 
single operator at the port to regulate all rail traffic in 
both directions simultaneously. 

Components of System 

To weave the communications network serving the 
far-flung operation, RCA has provided some 50 trans- 
mitters and receivers for installation at fixed points, on 
dredges, tugs and other vessels, in construction crew 
barracks and project offices, aboard trains, and with 
surveying parties. The entire collection breaks down 
into these separate systems: 

( 1 ) A triangular radio-telephone circuit comprising 
a duplex (two-way) microwave system connecting with 
regular telephone switchboards at the mine, the port 
and Ciudad Bolivar. Included in the system is an auto- 




Radio networks link all principal points involved in the 
Venezuela operations of the Orinoco Mining Company. 



matic repeater station located on a rise at Piacoa, at the 
head of the Orinoco delta, for communication between 
Puerto Ordaz and dredges which keep clear a 176-mile 
deep-water channel for ore vessels from the port out 
to the open sea off the coast of Trinidad. 

(2) A high-frequency radio system connecting the 
project offices at Ciudad Bolivar with the executive 
offices of the Orinoco Mining Company in Caracas, 270 
miles to the northwest. This system provides a duplex 
telephone channel and a teletype circuit working on 
frequency-shift keying. The high frequency transmitter 
at the Caracas end could not be located within the city 
proper and was placed instead at Petare, about 10 miles 
east. A VHF link from the Caracas office to the trans- 
mitter provides full remote control of the transmitter 
and handles the outgoing traffic. 

( 3 ) Mobile facilities to provide communication 
between construction camps, vehicles, surveying parties 
and other units likely to be on the move, and to permit 
communication between front and rear of trains or 
between train and dispatcher. 

From the start, RCA facilities have been used to en- 
sure rapid progress. The principal paths for the radio 
circuits were surveyed in 1950, when certain temporary 
channels were installed for the beginning of operations 
by the Orinoco Mining Company. The relatively long, 
distances to be covered over barren territory required 
special care in site selection and the use of special an- 
tenna to avoid the need for repeater stations at inter- 
mediate points. 

The system was engineered and installed by the RCA 
International Division with an auxiliary field staff" from 
the RCA Service Company. The engineering project in 
New York was directed by D. H. Pain with field engi- 
neering originally under the direction of G. G. Gerlach, 
later under L. A. Shotliff. Supervising all of the radio 
installations for the Orinoco Mining Company was 
Henry Carroll, communications superintendent. Paul F. 
Godley is consulting engineer. 



22 RADIO AGE 



Syndicated Film Opens New Field in TV 



By Carl M. Stanton 

Vice President in charge of Film Division, 
National Broadcasting Company 



M,: 



_ILLI0NS of American television viewers served by 
scores of independent broadcasting stations are gaining 
benefits in the form of high quality program fare through 
the phenomenal growth of a fairly new adjunct to the 
television industry — the syndication of films repeating 
highly successful network programs or made especially 
for sale to local stations and sponsors. 

Film syndication is the business of the NBC Film 
Division, which completed on March 3 its first full year 
as one of NBC's three major operating divisions. The 
record for the first year is a measure of the rapid, though 
carefully controlled, rise of syndication as a vital element 
in programming throughout the country. 

In recent months, such nationally known program 
series as "Victory at Sea," "Badge 714" (formerly "Drag- 
net") and "The Visitor" (formerly "The Doctor") — 
carried originally on the National Broadcasting Company 
network — have been ringing up new audience totals as 
syndicated film features in markets ranging in size from 
Panama City, Fla., to New York City. Together with 
other programs filmed specifically for syndication, such 
as "Hopalong Cassidy," "Inner Sanctum" and "Dangerous 
Assignment," these features have attracted a constantly 
growing number of local advertisers and broadcasters as 
a simple, inexpensive and high quality approach to 
building and holding local audiences. 

On March 3, 1953, when the Film Division was set 
up as a self-contained operation, only two programs were 
being syndicated, while the Division's film exchanges in 
New York and Hollywood were servicing 76 stations 
with these programs, network film shows and film record- 
ings of "live" television programs. 

One year later, the Division's inventory included 
fourteen properties, including one package of 26 feature 
films not previously shown on television, while the ex- 
changes were servicing 256 stations with 2,000 prints 
a week. In addition, the Division's film library in New 
York, containing the largest collection of stock footage 
photographed especially for television, had multiplied 
its activities in servicing stations, agencies and producers 
throughout the country from the more than 20,000,000 
feet of completely cross-indexed film in its vaults. This 
total, incidentally, has been increasing by a quarter of 
a million feet each month. 




The author, right, inspects a film camera with Roberl 

B. Sarnoff, Executive Vice-President of NBC, center, and 

Himan Brov^n, head of Galahad Productions. 

The Film Division in recent months has been em- 
phasizing the value of re-running good TV film series 
as a means of showing locally — and at local cost — 
programs of the highest quality. The campaign was 
based from the start on the claim that such programs 
reach a larger audience than did the original showing. 
Research data that has just become available has more 
than substantiated the claim: the rating figures show 
that these syndicated programs not only reach a larger 
audience than the original program, but that the pro- 
gram continues to grow in popularity and can boost a 
station's rating for a given time period anywhere from 
10 to 25 per cent. 

The first year has given the Film Division solid con- 
fidence in the future as competition grows through the 
increase of film programs on the market. In spite of 
the astonishing record of growth in 1953, 1954 bears 
the earmarks of an even more important year for the 
syndicated film business as new stations come on the air, 
looking to syndicators for much of their local program- 
ming, as local advertisers continue their trend toward 
syndicated films as an inexpensive, popular vehicle, and 
as national sponsors make ever greater use of these films 
to supplement their basic network television coverage. 



RAD/O AGE 23 



What I Found Out About Television 



Rosita Sarnojj. ivho will be 11 years old in June, is 
the daughter of Robert W. Sarnojj, Executive Vice- 
President of the National Broadcasting Company, and 
the grand-daughter of Brig. General David Sarnoff, 
Chairman of the Board of the Radio Corporation of 
America. The following article appeared in the Winter, 
1954, issue of "The Venturer," a publication of Miss 
Hewitt's Classes, New York, where she is in Grade VI. 



By Rosita Sarnoff 



o 



NE night, a few weeks ago, I was watching tele- 
vision when I began to wonder about it. I found there 
were a lot of questions to which I didn't know the 
answers. How old is television? How did it start.' How 
big is it and how many people can see it? I decided to 
find out the answers to my questions. By asking and 
reading I learned some interesting things. 

I am so used to watching television that I didn't 
realize that the broadcasting we have today is younger 
than I am. It is hardly more than five years old, although 
it took a long time to develop. This is how it started. 

As early as 1925, nearly 30 years ago, scientists were 
testing television in the laboratory. In 1931 a television 
station was put on top of the Empire State Building for 
experimenting. 

During those years many men worked hard to develop 
this invention. One of the most important of these men 
was Dr. Zworykin, who invented a tube called the 
iconoscope. This is known as the "eye " of the television 
camera. He also developed the kinescope, which is the 
"screen" of the television receiver. It is these two inven- 
tions which make it possible to see what is happening 
many miles away without leaving your living room. 

On April 30th, 1939, President Roosevelt was tele- 
vised at the New York 'World's Fair. This event has 
been called the "birth of the television industry." After 
this, it began to develop with telecasts of football games, 
hockey, basketball, and the circus from Madison Square 
Garden. In 1940 the Republican Convention was tele- 
vised in Philadelphia and was seen in New York. 

On May 2, 1941, the Government gave permission 
for TV programs to be sold to advertisers. But World 
War II stopped the development of television broad- 
casting. During the war, it was used by the Army and 
the Navy to control planes and bombs, and played an 
important part in helping to win the war. 




Rosita Sarnoff 

After the war television grew rapidly. The kind we 
have today really began about five years ago when many 
stations were built. Lots of sets were sold to people who 
wanted to see all the new programs. 

In 1951 television reached across the country for the 
first time, and people watching sets in New York, as 
well as other cities could see the signing of the Japanese 
Peace Treaty in San Francisco. 

In 1948 there were very few television stations and 
not many receivers; programs were being telecast only 
a few hours a day. Today, five years later, there are more 
than 300 television stations throughout the United States. 
There are now more than 25,000,000 sets, and there are 
programs all morning, afternoon, evening and late at 
night. Television can now be seen almost everywhere 
in the United States by most of the people. 

You can now sit at home and see many important 
and exciting events as they actually happen. You can 
also see drama, mystery, science, fiction, books, and many 
other types of entertainment and information. 

'Very soon much of what we now view on television 
in black and white we shall be able to see in beautiful 
color. A little later we shall be able to sit at home and 
see programs originating not only in the United States 
but throughout the rest of the world. 

This is what I found out when I started asking some 
questions about television. 



24 RADIO AGE 




On the "Home" set. In left foreground is Arlene Francis, editor-in-chief for the show. 

Versatile Stage Supports New NBC Show 
A 



MECHANICAL wonderland — the most completely 
workable permanent set in television — has been de- 
vised for "Home," NBC-TV's new weekday morning 
woman's service program, which made its debut from 
11 a.m. to 12 noon on March 1. 

EditoriaUy, the program is a television service 
magazine, with experts in a variety of fields expanding 
the horizon of service information to an extent never 
before approached. Among the features appearing reg- 
ularly are fashion, beauty, cooking, family problems, 
child care and training, leisure time activities, shopping 
news and notes, interiors and gardens, architecture and 
home economics. 

The revolutionary set demonstrates products, proc- 
esses and home procedures in the clearest and most ex- 
tensive manner ever accomplished on television. The 
novel equipment has been completely integrated with 
the editorial and commercial needs of any television 
show. 

Located at the NBC 'West 67th Street studios in New 
York, the set, conceived by Sol Cornberg of NBC-TV's 
plant operations, cost approximately $200,000. Its value 
lies in the fact that whatever the creative production 
staff of "Home" wishes to do, the means for an efficient, 
visually exciting presentation are there and available to 
them. 

The many devices are not simply curiosities or gim- 



micks, but ingenious instruments designed to do specific 
jobs with a maximum effect. The set, circular in design, 
is divided into ten working areas. The whole is enclosed 
by a translucent plastic skin — a color value wall — 
which can be lighted from above, below, front or back. 
In the center are two concentric turntables. The 
inner table elevates up to four feet and can also be 
lowered flush with the outer table. It can hold a pair 
of sofas, before and after upholstering, for example, or 
four models of television sets, or even a small car. 

Can Hold a Large Car 

When the two turntables are interlocked and flush, 
they can hold a large car. And since the whole turntable 
can be revolved, the camera can remain stationary while 
showing all sides of any object, or focus in turn on each 
of the objects. 

The working areas follow each other around the 
outer circumference of the set. Each is self-contained, 
although not physically divided from its neighbor. There 
is an atmosphere of space, and each area can be seen 
from many angles. 

The first, the "tumbler, " handles heavy objects auto- 
matically and without eflort. Anything weighing up to 
300 pounds and measuring less than six feet in its 
longest dimension can be accommodated by the device. 



RADIO AGE 25 




Artist's sketch shows aerial camera, left. 



For instance, it can revolve and invert a refrigerator so 
that the viewer can see the back, side and under surfaces. 
The "cookery, " a counter engineered for maximum 
visibility, gives the television audience a clear view of 
the food in preparation, without the cook's back mon- 
opolizing the scene. The cooking, baking, refrigerating 
and sink facilities are arranged in an unconventional 
manner, permitting the camera to show distinctly from 
all angles the smallest object or action. 

Editor's Area For Interviews 

The "editor's area" is used for interviews. It has 
monitors to bring in features done "on location"; a 
screen for showing films; a "flashcast" strip for headlines, 
recipes, mailing addresses and other data. 

The apparatus for demonstrating "how-to-do-its" is 
in the "workbench" area. In addition, this is a live 
laboratory for testing various products before the tele- 
vision audience. 

The "weather area" is next. Labelled the "elemen- 
tery," this will produce the elements "live" — rain, fog, 
snow, and hail — to show how products and materials 
respond to weather. It can be used for fashion shows, 
demonstrating most effectively clothes designed for resort 
wear, rain, or winter. 

The next three areas, arranged for room set-ups, 
fashion shows, and commercials, can be used separately 
or together. The center area elevates, tilts, and can be 
photographed from underneath. The entire walking sur- 
face is translucent and can be lighted from below. 

The last area is occupied by the garden or "growery." 
This is an earth pit, where anything from seeds to trees 
can be planted and viewers can watch their growth over 



the weeks. Demonstrations can be given on how to 
prune bushes and transplant house plants, among other 
practical gardening procedures. Not wishing to thrash 
out the issue of whose soil raises the best fruits, vege- 
tables, flowers and shrubs, the producer wrote a letter 
to the 48 governors, inviting each to send "Home" a 
package of soil from his state. The soil has been thor- 
oughly mixed in the "growery." The theory is that not 
only will local pride be salved in every part of the coun- 
try but the plants will thrive on the mixture better than 
they would in soil from any single state. 

New Aerial Camera Used 

Three conventional cameras will be in operation on 
the set. In addition, the studio is equipped with a new 
aerial camera, mounted with its own lights on a tele- 
scoping arm attached to the ceiling. More flexible than 
any previous television camera, it can go from an overall 
aerial view to a close-up. The arm extends to 30 feet, 
reaching as far as the wall. It can go straight down, 
straight out, or at any angle in between, and swings in 
a complete circle. The entire mechanism is remotely 
controlled from the wall. 

The "Home " set is absolutely practical. Its facilities 
mean that much can be done "live" and imaginatively 
which previously required the use of expensive film, 
edited in order to reproduce similar eflFects. The new 
studio set will also- make it possible not only to inform 
but to stimulate the housewife to adopt procedures and 
buy products demonstrated on the program, thus imple- 
menting to the fullest the editorial and commercial plans 
of the program. 



Foundation Honors NBC 



i 



T, 



HE Distinguished Service Scroll of Freedoms Foun- 
dation, the highest honor conferred by the organization, 
was awarded on February 22 to the National Broadcast- 
ing Company for having won "at least four" of the 
Foundation's annual awards selections in the past five 
years. 

The 1953 award — the fourth which qualified NBC 
for the scroll — was conferred on the network for its 
non-discriminatory "integration without identification" 
policy, cited by Freedoms Foundation as a "high level 
policy of NBC in all of its operations — the official 
mandate that neither color nor religion may constitute 
a barrier to the full utilization of any human skill." 

In addition to the special award to the network, six 
NBC television programs and two NBC radio programs 
won Honor Medal Awards. 



26 RADIO AGE 




Tangier: Crossroads of Radio 



By Eugene D. Becken 

Assistant Vice President and Plant Operations Engineer, 
RCA Communications, Inc. 



A 



TWENTIETH Century electronic marvel is planted 
today on land where subjects of His Majesty, the Sultan 
of Morocco, have lived and hunted since the beginning 
of history. 

Into this ancient domain in Northwest Africa has 
come one of the great communications centers of the 
world — the Tangier radio relay station of RCA Com- 
munications, Inc., linking the United States directly to 
twenty major countries, and channeling messages des- 
tined for nineteen additional nations. 

Here, partly on its own land and partly on leased 
public domain known as the Forest of Charf el Aquab, 
RCA Communications has erected buildings and an- 
tennas and has installed transmitters, receivers and diesel 
power generating units to handle messages in all the 
important tongues of humanity. Lying to the south of 
the highly disturbed zones rimming the arctic regions, 
the Tangier station has become the key relay in RCA's 
world-wide communications system. 

The station lies sixteen miles to the south of the 
city of Tangier, a center of 175,000 population near the 
Straits of Gibraltar. The Riff and Atlas mountains ring 
the region about 40 to 300 miles to the east and south. 
Modern Tangier is an international zone whose control 
is in Moroccan, French, Spanish, British, American, 
Italian, Belgian, Dutch and Portuguese hands. Its in- 
habitants represent a sampling of many continents with 
a wide range of ancient and modern culture and customs. 



It is a land of free exchange of the world's currencies, 
no income tax, wonderful climate, and political intrigue. 
This was the stage on which RCA Communications 
decided in 1946 to erect its great radio relay station. 
There were a number of reasons for building such a 
station and for placing it in Tangier. At the end of 
World War II, in the period of initial reconstruction, 
international communication requirements grew steadily, 
calling for greater volume and reliability of radio cir- 
cuits. The need for greater volume was met by introduc- 
tion of the five-unit tape relay system, using teleprinters 
— • but this innovation further sharpened the need for 
more reliable circuits. 

Reasons For Tangier Site 

Wartime experience had improved knowledge of the 
behavior of radio waves. It had been determined, for 
example, that the electrical disturbances frequently inter- 
fering with the radio paths between New York and 
points in Europe and the Near and Middle East could 
be largely avoided by moving the paths farther to the 
south. However, it was known too that the nearer these 
paths approached to the equatorial zone, the greater the 
radio noise encountered. Tangier was selected as a satis- 
factory technical compromise. 

Another reason for the selection of Tangier was the 
need for a relay center where weak radio signals could 
be restored to their original shape, amplified and trans- 
mitted onward with a tremendous increase in power. 
This was especially vital on extremely long circuits, such 
as those from New York to Bombay and New York to 
Baghdad. 



RADIO AGE 27 




Aerial view of the Tangier station. 



Radio waves travelling with the speed of light be- 
come weaker with every passing mile, and on very long 
circuits they diminish to a magnitude about equal to or 
even less than the magnitude of the local radio noise 
at the receiving station. The solution is either an ex- 
tensive increase in transmitter power at the point of 
origin, or the installation of a radio relay at some mid- 
point in the circuit. The Tangier station performs this 
relay function. 

The station comprises two separate clusters of build- 
ings and antennas — one for receiving and the other for 
transmitting. The message handling or traffic function 
is combined with the receiving center, while the 400- 
kilowatt diesel electric power generating equipment for 
the entire station is included in the transmitting center. 

There are 22 rhombic antennas — forming the pat- 
tern of a rhombus or a diamond when viewed from 
above — and 30 diversity receivers at the receiving site. 
The antennas operate in groups of two or three, spaced 
at least 1,000 feet apart. Erected on steel masts 80 to 
150 feet high, the rhombic antennas act somewhat like 
a hearing trumpet to concentrate the received energy. 
The radio receiver automatically picks out the strongest 
signal from any of the three in a group, making for 
considerable improvement in reception. 

Signals Are Put on Tape 

The incoming signal goes by cable to the nearby 
traffic center, where it is converted automatically into 
perforations in a continuous paper tape. While the mes- 
sage is being converted into perforations on the tape, 



the automatic device also types the information on the 
tape, permitting an operator to read the letters, figures 
or symbols being sent. 

Although tape appears at Tangier with dozens of 
different languages, the operator does not need to know 
— • and in fact seldom does know — the contents of the 
message being relayed. It is important only that he 
quickly scrutinize the tape for any technical flaws. 

The process of converting the message to perforated 
tape creates a duplicate of the original message, to be 
sent out completely refreshed on the second leg of its 
journey. The destination is determined from the pre- 
amble of the message, and the tape goes on to a so-called 
transmitter-distributor, which translates the perforations 
back into electrical signals that are sent by cable to the 
transmitting site. 

At the transmitting site, the signal is amplified and 
sent out from rhombic transmitting antennas which 
concentrate the radio energy in a narrow beam like that 
of a searchlight. Tangier is equipped with 26 such 
antennas and 25 radio transmitters ranging in power 
from one to 15 kilowatts of output. 

Another function for which Tangier is equipped is 

automatic electronic relaying, a method employed for 

messages over leased channels between New York and 

an overseas point. This technique eliminates the per- 

( Continued on page 32) 







Thompson H. Mitchell, President of RCA Communications, 

Inc., explains a transistor to Eagle Scout Stanley Becker 

in this photo sent from New York to Tangier and back 

again by radio. 



28 RADIO AGE 




They Keep the Standards High 

NBC Unit Reviews All Broadcast Material 



Problems of taste are day-to-day business for the 
National Broadcasting Company. In quantities of pro- 
gram and commercial material prepared each day for 
broadcast there are occasional offensive items that call 
for immediate treatment by a corps of specialists in the 
art of reviewing broadcast material for family consump- 
tion in the home. For example: 

The flag is an inspiring symbol to all Americans, but 
isn't it out of place as a cake decoration in a television 
commercial for a brand of flour? 

A broadcast performer may play George Washington 
or an equally respected historical figure without giving 
offense, but can a comedian do likewise for the sake 
of a laugh without risking charges of having thrown 
aside good taste? 

The Bible is a source of spiritual strength to mil- 
lions, but is it the sort of item that should be offered as a 
premium to any radio listener who sends in a mone- 
tary consideration and the box-top from a sponsor's 
product? 

Add to these fairly obvious questions a wide range 
of situations involving offenses to moral or political 
views, to racial dignity and to religious sensibilities 
and the result is a general idea of the responsibility that 
rests upon the broadcaster. The answer is, of course, a 
reasonable, self-imposed censorship with the sole aim 
of protecting a family audience — and sponsors and 
broadcasters as well — from the flagrant but uninten- 
tional lapses in taste that inevitably occur in the great 
volume of program and advertising material that makes 
up the day's broadcast fare. 

Code Established in 1934 

The Radio Corporation of American, announcing the 
creation of NBC in 1926, emphasized the responsibility 
of the broadcasting service for producing high quality 
programs in the public interest and by 1934 NBC had 
equipped itself with a detailed code governing program 
and advertising content, along with the machinery for 
ensuring its firm application. The NBC code antedated 
by more than eighteen years, and set the pattern for, an 
industry-wide code established by the National Associa- 
tion of Radio and Television Broadcasters. 

Applying the code eff^ectively means a considerable 



task of reviewing all films and scripts for radio or tele- 
vision broadcast — both programs and commercials. 
NBC has placed the job in the hands of a small but 
enthusiastic group known as the Continuity Acceptance 
staflf, headed in New York by Stockton Helffrich, an 
NBC Twenty-Year Club Member. Fourteen comprise 
the staffs operating at NBC headquarters in New York; 
proportionate groups are maintained in Washington, 
Chicago, Hollywood, Cleveland, and San Francisco. 

The job is perhaps the closest approach in broad- 
casting to a tightrope-walking act. The reviewers are 
responsible for weeding out any clearly offensive oral or 
visual material that may terrify, anger or disgust a 
considerable segment of the audience, but at the same 
time they must avoid hampering the creative talents 
necessary to high quality programming. 

Mr. HeWrich defines the function this way: 

"Essentially we're a common-sense department, de- 
voted not to telling producers what they can't do, but 
to helping them to say what they want to say in a man- 
ner acceptable to the widest possible majority." 

This gives only a faint idea of the dimensions of the 
task. A more graphic measurement lies in the files of 
the Continuity Acceptance staff — a collection of dread- 
ful examples that have been stopped in their tracks, and 
of indignant letters proving the point made by a prom- 
inent columnist that "there is hardly a radio or television 
program that doesn't offend wmebody." 




Occasional complaints may refer to the dramatic 
quality of a program or the performance of an artist — 
aspects with which Continuity Acceptance is not pri- 
marily concerned — and a number represent isolated 
points of view that in all justice cannot be allowed to 
influence programming for the great majority. In the 

RADIO AGE 29 



Sarnoff Accepts Award 

I Cotitiniied from page 6} 
far from being journeymen workers in that complex 
area. Indeed, with every new advance we are more 
acutely conscious of how much remains to be explored 
and analyzed. 

Constructive Purpose Needed 

"Unhappily, too much of our new knowledge has 
been applied to the instruments of destruction. But, 
like the fire of Prometheus, it can serve man as well as 
consume him in its flames. No time must be lost in 
applying our new knowledge to constructive purposes. 
The electron and the atom can be made wonder-working 
allies, rather than death-dealing enemies, of man. They 
hold incalculable treasures of peace and civilization 
which we shall squander unless we succeed, in due time, 
to make them instruments of God rather than the Devil. 

"Man cannot hope to control the behavior of the 
electron and the atom until he learns to control himself 
in a world where one man's madness can make millions 
mourn. There might be an atom bomb on this platform, 
but it would remain harmless unless man in his con- 
fusion and desperation pulled the trigger that released 



its frightful energy. If the civilization we cherish is to 
survive, the hand that controls the atom must be guided 
by understanding and good will — not by hate, but by 
love of mankind." 

In conclusion, General Sarnoff declared: 
"Today we stand on the threshhold of a new era, 
bright with promise. If man turns his thoughts and 
energies toward the potentialities of science for peace 
instead of war, modern inventions can help make life 
on this earth so fruitful and satisfying for all people 
that there would be little cause for envy and conflict. 

"What we need most is the faith and the spiritual 
guidance that will lead us to use our amazing new 
knowledge for the benefit of all humanity, and not for 
its destruction. Especially in troubled times of decision 
like the present, we dare not forget the goals set for 
us by the noblest prophets and poets, philosophers and 
spiritual leaders, through the ages. Those goals have 
never changed. The hope of everlasting peace and a 
world that is free has its source in the mind, the heart 
and the soul of man. These are the divine gifts with 
which man, alone among the teeming creatures of the 
world has been endowed, and they will enable him 
to meet, 'Today's Great Challenge and Golden Oppor- 
tunity.' " 



Tangier Relay 

(Continued from page 28) 
forated tape line, passing the incoming message directly 
to the transmitting circuit in electrical form for radio 
transmission. Any message sent over such a leased cir- 
cuit by a client in New York is sent automatically 
through Tangier to its destination. Pictures and radio 
programs are relayed through the station in this fashion, 
as well as radio messages. 

The people who operate this complicated electronic 
plant are British, Spanish, Moroccan, Italian, French, 
Dutch, Danish, Portuguese, and Cuban nationals, making 
up a staff of 225 employees. A number are highly- 
trained electronic specialists who, despite their widely- 
varied backgrounds, are joined together in a mutual 
effort to provide the finest communication service pos- 
sible. English is the common denominator for carrying 
on the station's affairs. 

RCA Communications, Inc. had and continues to 
receive the able and helpful assistance and guidance of 
the United States Department of State, both in Wash- 
ington and Tangier, and the International Administra- 
tion of Tangier in constructing and operating this plant 
with its many complex problems. 



Television in Japan 



I Continued from page 20) 
for remote coverage, microwave relay links, and other 
associated equipment to the Japanese broadcasting com- 
panies. The Okura Trading Company, Ltd., of Tokyo, 
RCA International engineering products distributor, has 
been rendering valuable service to RCA customers in 
Japan by helping them to select proper equipment and 
plan the set-up of the stations. 

The Nippon Telephone and Telegraph Corporation 
has constructed a two-way microwave relay link between 
Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka. It will provide facilities to 
both the public and private broadcasting companies. 
The Nippon Telephone and Telegraph Corporation plans 
to service other areas of Japan as television is established 
in those places. 

Although Japan was the leader in the Far East in 
television broadcasting, Thailand and the Philippines 
have since purchased RCA TV transmitters. All three 
countries will operate on United States FCC standards 
of 525 lines, 60 fields. 

RCA was the first company to supply television 
equipment also in Brazil, Canada, Cuba, the Dominican 
Republic, Mexico, and Venezuela. 



32 RADIO AGE 



£MjJWmRS 






(UifB 



YOIL 



.Hir^-m^^ 



u^- 



NOW 



OPEN 



FOR 



5^''°nESlGN ENGINEERS: 

AND DESIGN 

^ MECHANICAL • • ■ 

, COMPUTER ••• 
^ ELECTRON TUBE- 



TFt 



INTERS', 
PER5"^^.VCITY.J„„, 



ISONAL 

IN Y°„4lnd OPP^ 



IEWS 

copy 



lANGED 






ARR 

RCA. '"'". .^ resvjwe 
cowp' 



olele 



Cbo\leng' 

=' p\eose s<" 

educot'o" 

NVR. JO"** 



< Y°"' 



VJEtO 



Depl- 



3150 






t:-- 



f.1*Hl#ftf* 




mTOiimfi 



t!:!}!t!!}:i;:[i:: 



TTTT 



::!;|!;!'|-!l: 



ITT 



TTT 



TIT 



.:^^ 



II 



ttttt 



-^ND PRESTIGE > 



HOUSING AT 



''4 vesNo CHfC/C SHffr 

- □ D PI^OFESSIONAL RECOGNITION . 
^ D D ADVANCEMENT IN STATUS? 

- □ D SECURITY AND STABILITY? 

Q D EXCELLENT SUBURBAN 
REASONABLE COSTZ 

O a MODIKATE COST OF LIVING ? 
□ n MODERN mmeMlNTPUM? 
a a ^OMPANY.PAIDIIFIINSMMCC? 

□ D i/BfMiV4C4r/ONPM/v? 

D D i'BfMiWOi/D4ysCWfDWf? 



Wit^M'^MMtfilSMMMW 




iM 



M 



^ 



Mi 



;^i*iis?i 



iiluulilmii- 



Milii 



:F 




I 



Compatible color tele\ ision reaches e\ery TV home 



The rainbow you can see in black and white ! 



RCA brings you compatible color TV. 
Lets you see color programs in black 
and white on the set you now own! 

"When a modern and practical color television system 
for the home is here, RCA will have it . . . " 

Echoing down through the years, these words — spoken 
in 1946 by David Sarnoff, Chairman of the Board of RCA 
— have a ring of triumph today. 

The day on which the FCC approved standards for the 
commercial broadcasting of compatible color television — 
December 17, 1953— will be remembered in the annals 
of communications along with the historic date of April 
30, 1939, when RCA-NBC introduced black-and-tvhite 
television as a service to tlie public. 

At that time sight was added to sound. Now color has 
been added to sight. 

Behind this great development are many long years 
of scientific research, hard work and financial risk. RCA 
scientists were engaged in research basically related to 



color television as far back as the 1920's . . . even before 
black-and-white television service was introduced. 

Since then RCA has spent over $25,0()0,00() to add tlie 
reality of color to black-and-white TV, including devel- 
opment of the tri-color tube. 

The fruit of this great investment is the RCA aU- 
electronic compatible color television system, a system 
that provides for the telecasting of high-quality color pic- 
tures that can be received in full color on color receivers; 
and in black and white on the set you now oion. 

RCA and NBC will invest an additional $15,000,000 
during color television's "Introductory Year"— 1954 — to 
establish this new service on a solid foundation. 

RCA color television sets are beginning to come off 
the production lines in small quantities. Although it will 
probably be another year before mass production is 
reached, the promise of compatible color television is 
being fulfilled. 

RCA pioneered and developed compatible color television 




Radio Corporation of America 

Uorld leader in radio — first in television 



J U LI I 9 »!' 




tESEARCH • MANUFACTURING • COMMUNICATIONS • BROADCASTING • TELEVISION 



.^^^ 



JUL 27 1954 




NEW TV SETS 




1 



Radar installutiun uii Mt. Parnasans. 



Tlic RCAmaiiAv^as lierer said Apollo 



Electronics has come to Mt. Parnas- 
sus. Capping the heights of this leg- 
endary retreat of Greek Gods, Muses 
and Nymphs, is rador— installed 
under the supervision of RCA field 
engineers. 

And it's no mvth, but verv real 
evidence of how American enter- 
prise is contributing to the defense 
of the free world. 

To help in the important Mutual 



Defense Assistance program, RCA's 
Government Service Department has 
mustered corps of hundreds of engi- 
neers and technicians to train our 
own military in the installation and 
service of electronic equipment 
abroad — and to teach the science of 
electronics to friendlv nations all 
over the globe. 

Radar, Loran, Guided Missile sys- 
tems— and a host of other electronic 



devices — are now in efficient opera- 
tion from the Aleutians to the Dar- 
danelles to the South China Sea. By 
shoring up the military establish- 
ments of the free world, these instal- 
lations have become ramparts of de- 
fense—deterrents against aggression. 

Building! Teaching! Training! No 
wonder "the RCA man was here" 
has become an expression of grati- 
tude with free peoples, everywhere. 



RCA pioneered and 
developed compatible 
color television 




Radio CoiwoHArrox ofAmeiuca 

World leader in nnlio — Jirst in U'li\-ision 



VOLUME 13 NUMBER 3 



ARCH • MANUFACTURING • COMMUNICATIONS 
BROADCASTING •TELEVISION 






IICATIONL^ 



CONTENTS 



JULY 1954 




COVER 

Five models in the new line of 
RCA Victor TV sets, including 
a receiver mounted on a 
matching swivel base for con- 
venient viewing. (Story on 
Page 12). 



NOTICE 

When requesting o change in mailing 
address please include the code letters 
and numbers which appear with the 
stencilled address on the envelope. 

Radio Age is published quarterly by 
the Department of (nformation, Rodio 
Corporotion of America, 30 Rocke- 
feller Ptaza, New ^ork 20, N Y. 

Printed in U.S.A. 



Page 

Youth's Vital and Promising World 3 

Electronics and Law Enforcement 5 

The Smallest TV Station in the World 6 

Five Years of Success for the "45" 9 

RCA Introduces Its New Line of Home Instruments 12 

The Eye that Sees One 10-Millionlh of an Inch 14 

Electronic Trails Around the World 16 

The Maestro Retires 19 

They Explore the Face of the Sun 20 

NBC Takes to the Road with Color TV 24 

New Daylight Viewing Screen for Radar 26 

Five Executives Promoted by RCA 28 

New First Quarter Sales Record is Set by RCA 29 

Open House at Princeton 31 

News in Brief 32 




RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA 

RCA Building, New York 20, N.Y. 



DAVID SARNOFF, Chairman of the Board 
JOHN Q. CANNON, Secretary 



FRANK M. FOLSOM, President 
ERNEST B. GORIN, Treasurer 





'^ 




COLOR TELEVISION: A battery of RCA color cameras in an NBC studio. 



Youth's Vital and Promising World 

Sjriwff ill Conunmccmcnt Address M University of Soiitbcrn Cjlijoniu Sdys 
Problems Jiid Pmls jrc Pjrt of the Priee of ''Monitiiientjl Achiereiiieiits^' 



A 



REMARKABLY vital and promising world" has been 
built by the parents and grandparents of today's youth, 
Brig. General David Sarnoff, Chairman of the Board 
of RCA, told the graduating class of the University of 
Southern California, Los Angeles, in commencement 
exercises on June 12. During the ceremonies, General 
Sarnoff received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. 

"The conventional pattern of a commencement 
address, I am aware, requires the orator to apologize 
for the sins and failures of his own generation — then 
to congratulate the graduates on their chance to clean 
up the mess being handed to them," he said. "This 
shows proper humility and flatters the youthful audience. 
"I beg leave to break with the pattern. I cannot in 
good conscience admit that we have made a mess of 
things. On the contrary, I believe that your parents and 
grandparents, which is to say roughly my generation, 
have built a remarkably vital and promising world. 

"It is a world that holds plenty of problems and 
perils, but these are always part of the price of monu- 
mental achievements. Our failures, and they are many, 
for the most part spring from our successes. They 
reflect the growing pains of an extraordinary period 
in human history. Considering the handicaps under 
which we worked, perhaps you will agree that we have 
not done too badly." 

"The unique and fateful fact about the last fifty 
years is the dizzy speed with which a multitude of 
shattering changes have come upon us," he said. "Hardly 
had mankind gotten over the shock of one tremendous 
discovery when it was staggered by another and usually 
bigger one. Small wonder, therefore, that we have 
been bewildered and a little scared. The terrific accelera- 
tion of life has subjected us to immense strains, which 
at times seemed almost intolerable. We are most 
acutely conscious of this just now in our reactions to 
atomic energy. 

Mature Technologically, Adolescent Spiritually 

"The inability of man as a social and economic 
creature to keep step with his science — that is the crux 
of his dilemma today. He is mature technologically 
while still an adolescent spiritually. Physical distances 
have shrunk, but the distances between the hearts of 



man and of nations are wide as ever. This is the 
primary challenge that awaits you in the world beyond 
this campus; by this your generation and those that 
follow will be judged. 

"Our choice — more exactly, your choice — is between 
accepting the challenge or allowing yourself to be 
crushed by it. You can grovel in terror before the mighty 
forces released by science, even as savage man groveled 
before lightning. Or you can face those forces boldly 
and harness them to your purposes, just as electricity 
has been harnessed for mankind. That choice is what 
makes this a time for courage and for leadership." 

Progress in Fifty Years 

Making what he called a "haphazard inventory of 
the Twentieth Century," General Sarnoff said that "never 
before has man's environment been so radically and 
rapidly modified." 

"In comparison with 1954, man at the beginning 
of the present century was deaf, dumb, blind and earth- 
bound. He could not speak, hear or see beyond the 
horizon, or navigate through the air. 

"Since then, radio has extended our sense of hear- 
ing and carried our voice clear around the globe. Radar 
has plucked echoes from the moon. Television has 
projected our sense of sight across continents and soon 
it will span the oceans as welL Only recently the 
glorious panoply of full color has been added to this 
extended vision." 

Advances in transportation by ground and air, in 
chemistry, medicine and agricultural techniques, and 
in the discovery and development of atomic energy, 
have made of the Twentieth Century a period "when 
the worlds of the poet and the scientist have intersected, 
when the boundaries between the visionary and the 
practical have been blurred," General Sarnoff said. 

"My point is not that these wonders have transpired 
during my generation and have become part and parcel 
of our daily experience," he added. "It is that they 
have come like an avalanche, in so short a time. To 
understand the world you inherit, you should consider 
not only the number of these changes, but their tempo 
— the unexampled speed with which they came." 



RADIO AGE 3 







Following presentation of the honorary degree by President Fred D. Fogg, Jr., of the University of Southern California, 

right. General Sarnoff is congratulated by Asa C. Vail, President of the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Co. and 

President of the University's Board of Trustees, v/ho had presented him as a candidate for the degree. 



While mankind is adjusting itself to a changing 
environment, it is well to recall that victories on the 
cultural and moral levels have been won during the past 
half-century despite the "torrential downpour of inven- 
tions and discoveries," he said. 

"They are spelled out in more widespread education, 
in easier access to the products of genius in all the arts, 
in society's vastly larger concern for the old, the widowed, 
the helpless. The same decades that saw the birth of 
television and the splitting of the atom also saw a great 
improvement in race relations and the enactment of 
vital social legislation. 

More Equitable Sharing 

"Along with the assembly line has also come the 
rise of trade unions and a more equitable sharing of 
the fruits of labor. Though consumption of goods per 
person has risen two and a half times in these fifty 
years, the average work week has been reduced by one- 
third from fifty-eight to forty hours. At the same time, 
the possibilities for worth-while and enjoyable use of 
these new margins of leisure have been immeasurably 
enlarged. 

"No, we have no excuse for defeatism in the face 
of science. We have no warrant for despair. The job 
ahead is to assimilate the scientific progress, to turn 
every potential for human benefit into a living reality." 



General Sarnofif expressed a fear that "obsessive 
emphasis on security" in recent years has obscured 
older and more real values. He suggested that the mean- 
ing of ambition and of struggle may have to be re- 
learned, adding: 

"Whatever course you have chosen for yourself, 
it will not be a chore but an adventure if you bring 
to it a sense of the glory of striving — if your sights are 
set far above the merely secure and mediocre. In one's 
personal life, as in world affairs, appeasement can be 
the shortest road to failure. 

Larger Problems /Must Be Solved 

"Neither personal success nor wealth can any longer 
provide a guarantee of safety for the individual. They 
mean little unless the larger problems affecting the 
community and the nation are solved. To meet the 
demands of these times, each of you must be prepared 
to make contributions to society even at what may seem 
a personal sacrifice. 

"The time when government could be left exclusively 
to professional politicians is past, never to return. For 
government has become almost co-extensive with life 
itself. Directly or indirectly you will be called upon 
to help carry its burdens. To be only a critic on the 
sidelines is not enough." 



4 RADIO AGE 



The world today, General Sarnoff said, calls for 
readiness to cultivate and defend the birthright of 
freedom in the face of a menace to our civiHzation by 
a "strong and fanatic" enemy. 

"We cannot banish dangers, but we can banish 
fears," he cautioned. "We must not demean life by 
standing in awe of death. I do not doubt that we shall 
win in the deepening struggle between liberty and en- 
slavement; that we can emerge better and stronger 
from the contest. Indeed, we could lose only by default 
— and you must see to it that we do not default. Ameri- 
can hatred of war is too obvious to need proving. But 
weakness or fear will surely not avert it. 

"America and the world need your fresh energies, 
the fire and the zeal of youth, no less than the experience 
of your elders. The hazards of the world I have tried 
to sketch for you, including its new weapons and newly 
released forces, put a premium on intelligence. They 
have made it evident that we need, as a nation, not only 
more 'man power' but more 'mind power.' Universities 



like this one represent the prime reservoirs of that 
'mind power.' 

"You have been bred — and that is the greatest 
asset of all — by a nation which has given the world an 
unmatched example of idealism," General Sarnoff said. 
"Those whom we have liberated from oppression have 
been free to go their own way. America has responded 
always and generously to calls for help. Though it has 
not sought the role, America today stands as the main 
bulwark of Judeo-Christian civilization. Surely we who 
are children of this great country must strive to measure 
up to the splendors of its history and its destiny. 

"Let us not lose the sense of the awe and mystery 
of life. Our very triumphs in penetrating nature have 
disclosed our mortal limitations. The more we learn, 
the more remains to be learned. Science, far from 
making us arrogant, teaches us to be humble. In this 
universe of endless wonders, the most wondrous is the 
human mind capable of delving so deep, and the human 
heart aware of depths we can never plumb." 



Electronics and La^v Enforcement 



Delivering the commencement address at the FBI 
National Academy in Washington on June 11, General 
Sarnoff outlined many new uses for television, radio and 
electronics to aid police in law enforcement. 

"Today's graduates have at their disposal a whole 
spectrum of scientific tools for their trade of which only 
the most imaginative of the first graduates of the 
Academy ever dreamed," he said. "By the same token, 
graduates five or ten years hence will enjoy scientific 
aids to law enforcement unavailable today." 

He recalled the contributions of radio services to 
this work, pointing out that there is a total of 100,000 
police vehicles now equipped with two-way radio ap- 
paratus and that major turnpikes are provided instan- 
taneous communications along the route by means of 
microwave radio systems. 

"Eventually, we may be sure," General Sarnoff said, 
"these expressways will be interconnected not only by 
radio but by television. It is only a matter of time, 
moreover, before a coast-to-coast radio-television net- 
work will transmit teletype messages, weather reports, 
photographs, fingerprints and other documents. Law 
enforcement will have at its disposal an all-seeing eye 
that scans the country at a glance. " 

Among the electronic devices now in use by police, 
or of great potential use in police work. General Sarnoff 
mentioned these; 



Radar, which "will be increasingly an arm of the 
police forces;" 

Radiophoto, by which "photographs or fingerprints 
can be flashed around the world within minutes, if 
necessary;" 

Television, in which RCA recently cooperated with 
the New York City Police Department in televising a 
police lineup, and which already is used for surveillance 
of prisoners, as in the new jail at Houston, Texas; 

Electronic detectors, which may be used in pre- 
vention of smuggling of weapons or tools to cells; 

The transistor, which makes possible miniature 
radios with which "the patrolman and detective will be 
as directly and continually in touch with headquarters 
as are mobile units;" 

The electron microscope, used by the FBI as well as 
by crime detection laboratories in cities like New York 
and Rio de Janeiro. 

In addition, he foresaw just over the horizon a 
number of new scientific aids to law enforcement, in- 
cluding miniature battery-powered tape recorders, elec- 
tronic computers, electronic controls that may auto- 
matically trigger traffic signals to halt traffic and clear 
a path for emergency vehicles, and ultra-sonic alarm 
systems that could be touched off if broken by a person 
or object passing through the ultra-sonic signal beam. 



RADIO AGE 5 




The Limestone Air Force Base TV station in operation. Staff Sgt. James R. Dean prepares to roll 
kinescope film recording as Airman Second Class Robert L. Slezak cues announcer in the studio. 



The Smallest TV Station in the World 



J_HE world's smallest television station was officially 
previewed on June 30 at the U. S. Air Force base at 
Limestone, Me., from which Uncle Sam's airmen fly 
the world's largest bombers. 

Colonel Bertram C. Harrison, Commander, 42d Bom- 
bardment Wing, hailed the "Tom Thumb" TV setup as 
a "truly significant experiment that we hope will be used 
as a pattern to bring television to U. S. military per- 
sonnel stationed at isolated bases around the world. " 

The tiny, low-powered station has approximately 
one five-thousandths the wattage of the nation's largest 
commercial stations. With its maximum coverage range 
of only three miles, the Air Force station provides ten 
hours of major network programs daily for more than 
15,000 persons living at this 10,000-acre installation 
only a few miles from the Canadian border. 

Conceived by General Curtis E. LeMay, Commander, 
Strategic Air Command, as an entertainment medium 
for personnel at isolated bases, the station was built by 
the Radio Corporation of America after General LeMay 
sought assistance from Brig. General David Sarnoft, 
Chairman of the Board of RCA. 

The tiny new television station was dedicated at 
ceremonies which took place at a giant "open house " at 



the base on the Fourth of July. It was estimated that 
more than 50,000 persons were on hand to inspect non- 
security portions of the mammoth base and to catch 
glimpses of the latest type planes in the nation's air 
defense armada. 

Built and Installed at Cost 

Equipment for the miniature 8-watt station, which 
transmits programs over a three mile radius, was de- 
signed, built and erected at cost by RCA. A grant of 
$34,000 from the SAC welfare fund paid for the equip- 
ment and its installation. 

"The lessons learned by our engineers in simplifying 
and miniaturizing television equipment to be used by 
our Armed Forces enabled us to design and construct 
this miniature station," Francis H. Engel, Assistant to the 
Vice-President and General Manager, Engineering Prod- 
ucts Division of RCA, said in describing the station. 

"The same principles we used in building light- 
weight, efficient and easy-to-operate television equipment 
for airplanes and other military uses were applied here. 
Consequently, less than three months after General 
LeMay proposed his idea to General Sarnoft, the station 
was in operation. " 



6 RADIO ACE 



Studios and transmitter facilities are housed in a 
"television shack" — ten by thirteen feet in area — 
atop the four-story base hospital. A lieutenant and six 
enlisted men comprise the engineering and program 
staff. On the air for approximately six months on an 
experimental basis, the station telecasts kinescope re- 
cordings of top network programs from the major 
broadcasting systems. It also provides three daily "live" 
newscasts and twice-daily "weather man" programs. 
Regularly scheduled "flying safety" programs are carried 
as well as religious telecasts produced by Air Force 
chaplains and their staffs. 

Air Force Morale TV Policy 

Colonel Harrison estimated at "more than 1,000" 
the number of television receivers in use in living and 
recreation quarters at the base. Stating Air Force policy 
on the operation of morale TV stations, he declared: 

"We will operate television stations only in areas 
where it is not possible to receive TV programs from 
commercial outlets. We do not intend to compete with 
private industry. It is our purpose — and our sole 
purpose — to provide television service to our people 



only when and where they cannot get it from privately 
owned stations." 

Recounting the nearly two decades of television use 
by the Armed Forces, Mr. Engel said that General Sarnoff 
first assigned RCA engineers and scientists to develop- 
ing television for the Armed Forces in 1934. 

"Long before World War II ended, radio-controlled 
airplanes with RCA television cameras in their noses 
had been tested against targets in the South Pacific," he 
related. "German objectives along the English Channel 
also felt the devastating impact of similar electronic- 
controlled, television-guided weapons. World War II 
saw many successful uses of airborne television in patrol 
work. Pictures transmitted from high-flying aircraft 
were relayed scores of miles to receivers installed at 
land bases and aboard ships. 

"Since V-J Day, military television — like its civilian 
counterpart — has made amazing strides. TV has been 
used to get close-up pictures of radioactive clouds un- 
leashed by nuclear explosions. Television has guided 
pilotless drone aircraft to communist targets during the 
fighting in Korea. Even now, we — and by 'we' I 
mean RCA in partnership with the Armed Forces — 
we are developing new and important uses of television 
and electronics to safeguard national security." 




Staff Sgt. Tom B. Legan is staff announcer. Here he 
presents a newscast from the tiny studio. 



Staff Sgt. Charles McDonald scans the teletype in prep- 
aration for the hourly broadcast of AP news. 



RADIO AGE 7 



Vidicon Camera Used 

Mr. Engel explained how RCA engineers had adapted 
much existing equipment used in commercial television 
stations to provide the nucleus of the Limestone installa- 
tion. The tiny Vidicon camera used to pick up both live 
and filmed programs is the size of a cigar box and has 
found widespread applications in industry, as well as 
commercial television. 

"It is significant, I believe, that here at Limestone 
Air Force Base — the home of the world's largest 
bombers and the world's smallest television station — 
the value of morale TV has been proved," Mr. Engel 
stated. 

Limestone AFB's television station presented its first 
program last Christmas Day. Equipment installation set 
some kind of a record since the first shipment did not 
arrive until December 21. The compact transmitter — 
the most vital piece of equipment — was flown in on 
December 23. RCA engineers and Air Force technicians 
worked around the clock to meet the Christmas target 
date. 

The Limestone Air Force Base was selected as the 
initial site because it is isolated enough to present 
morale problems, but still near enough to sources of 



supply — equipment and program material — to insure 
a continuous flow of necessities. 

One of Northernmost Bases 

One of the northernmost outposts of the United 
States defense system, the base is located at the north- 
eastern tip of Maine, 200 miles northeast of Bangor, Me., 
and 16 hours by rail from Boston, Mass. 

Limestone is the headquarters of the 42d Heavy 
Bombardment Wing, which operates B-36 "intercon- 
tinental" bombers capable of flying nuclear explosives 
non-stop to any point in the world. The base also is 
capable of servicing all latest-type aircraft, including jet 
fighters and bombers. A feature of the base is a cement 
hangar capable of housing two giant 10-engine B-36's 
in addition to various facilities especially designed for 
defense against atomic attack on the United States. 

Construction of the Limestone Air Force Base was 
started in the winter of 1946-47, and it continues today. 
Unlike many Air Force installations which formerly 
served the Army and were designed for ground force 
needs, Limestone AFB was planned from the beginning 
as an Air Force base. Thus training, flight line, barracks 
and headquarters facilities have carried the Air Force 
stamp from the moment they left the drawing board. 




The end product — an interested TV audience in an enlisted man's home at ihe Limestone base. 
8 RADIO AGE 




Thomas F. Joyce, right, President of Raymond Rosen and Co., Inc., of Philadelphia, receives an inscribed, gold- 
plated 45-rpm phonograph from Joseph B. Elliott, Executive Vice-President, Consumer Products, RCA, in recognition of 
the Rosen organization's achievements in sales contest sponsored recently by RCA. Looking on at left is Raymond 
W. Saxon, now General Sales Manager, RCA Victor Television Division. 



R. 



Five Years of Success for the "45" 



.EVITALIZED by the 43-rpm recording system intro- 
duced by RCA five years ago, the phonograph-record 
industry has been lifted to new high levels with more 
than 200 million "45" records sold, Frank M. Folsom, 
President of the Radio Corporation of America, said on 
June 29 in a statement marking the fifth anniversary 
of the "45." 

He said that 13 million homes now have turntables 
capable of playing "45s," and estimated that within 
another five years the "45" will account for more than 
75 per cent of the total record volume. 

"The '45' records now represent more than 50 per 
cent of all single records sold," said Mr. Folsom. "The 
older 78-rpm records are obsolete. So quickly did the 
'45' gain popularity that by the end of its first year, 
the sale of '45' records represented 10 per cent of all 
record sales, and this percentage has steadily increased 
from year to year. In 1949, when RCA introduced the 
'45' system, record industry sales totaled $I60 million. 
This year, because of the interest the system has gen- 
erated for all types of records, the sales volume for the 
industry should be greater than $225 million — and 
the quarter-billion dollar figure is only a matter of time. 

"The '45' system has won recognition from every 
quarter, even from those who were its severest critics, 



and it has given the American public recorded enter- 
tainment of matchless tonal quality and more music for 
less money. Today all major record and phonograph 
manufacturers are producing discs and record-players 
utilizing the '45' system, yet five years ago great furor 
was created by what was proclaimed as 'the battle of 
speeds.' In 1949, those who would have clung to the 
old and thus deterred progress by not adopting the '45' 
must now realize that their lack of vision and faith 
threatened to keep their own business at low levels and 
prevent the public from enjoying the many advantages 
of the '45' system. 

Fastest, Simplest Record Changer 

"We have made available to the public RCA Victor's 
unsurpassed library of the world's greatest artists and 
music on '45' records, as well as on 3314-rpm (long- 
play) records. And we have provided the fastest and 
simplest record changer ever developed, designed for 
the finest possible music reproduction. The results have 
been extremely satisfactory and dramatically show the 
value of recognizing the merits of an invention and 
American ingenuity in creating new electronic instru- 
ments that keep the art of music in step with scientific 
progress." 



RADIO AGE 9 



Indicative of the continued growth of the "45" 
system, Mr. Folsom revealed that beginning July 1, 
RCA Victor will ship only "45" popular records to more 
than 2,000 radio stations throughout the country, re- 
placing the shipment of 78-rpm records for broadcast 
use. He pointed out that this is another signpost of 
listener acceptance of the "45" system and represents a 
logical follow-up to the conversion that already has 
taken place in automatic music machines. 

The "Listener's Digest" 

"The '45' system has become the standard for virtu- 
ally all new popular records," Mr. Folsom declared. "It 
also has created new and expanding interests in the field 
of classical music. 

"In this connection, RCA Victor has produced a truly 
monumental new record album to commemorate the 
fifth anniversary of the '45' system. It is the 'Listener's 
Digest,' which, in one album, brings condensed versions 
of twelve great musical masterpieces. These records 
feature the world's greatest recording artists playing 
selections by seven renowned composers. 

"More than thirteen months of intense effort was 
expended in preparing the 'Listener's Digest'. The 
original uncondensed recordings are five hours, fifty 
minutes, seventeen seconds in length. The Listener's 




Digest' album runs two hours, thirty-five minutes and 
sixteen seconds. It is a masterpiece destined to interest 
millions of people in music of the masters." 

Mr. Folsom explained that in order to implement 
the distribution of the "Listener's Digest," RCA is offer- 
ing the new album as part of a package which includes 
a 45-rpm "Victrola" phonograph and a 42-page Musical 
Enjoyment Guide. 

"We are convinced," he said, "that the 'Listener's 
Digest' will please parents who will find this new con- 
cept in records a perfect and inexpensive way to intro- 
duce their children to fine music. It also will be ideally 
suited to adults who want to become better acquainted 
with great music. Schools, too, are expected to make 
extensive use of this new approach to musical education 
and enjoyment. 

"Success of previous RCA Victor albums — such as 
the Heart of the Symphony,' "Heart of the Piano Con- 
certo,' and 'Heart of the Ballet' — has proved that the 
general public will buy great music, even if they are 
somewhat unfamiliar with it, when the music is pre- 
sented in an exciting manner. This is done with the 
Listener's Digest' as it has never been done before in 
the history of recording." 

Greatest Advance in 30 Years 

Observing that the recording industry has kept tech- 
nological pace with developments in electronics, Mr. 
Folsom appraised the "45" system as "the greatest ad- 
vance in fifty years of recorded music." It is, he added, 
a new standard of musical enjoyment in the "Victrola" 
field — a standard that highlights and reflects the in- 
dustry's search for quality and perfection in music re- 
production. The small, unbreakable, vinyl plastic, wafer- 
thin records, Mr. Folsom said, have revolutionized many 
aspects of the "Victrola"-phonograph industry, including 
the merchandising of records. 

Mr. Folsom paid tribute to merchandisers for the 
outstanding role they have played in making the 45-rpm 
system a part of the American home entertainment scene. 
He cited Raymond Rosen and Company, Inc., RCA 
Victor distributor in the Philadelphia area, as an out- 
standing example of a firm which has successfully mer- 
chandised the 45-rpm system. He said that in five years 
the Raymond Rosen organization has sold more than 
3,500,000 45-rpm discs and nearly 195,000 45-rpm 
"Victrola" phonographs. 

Recalling the advertisement in March of 1949, an- 
nouncing RCA's development of the "45," which stated 

Keeping a close eye on quality in the making of 45-rpm 

records — here the first master pressing is tested at the 

RCA Indianapolis plant. 



?0 RADIO AGE 



that "the -O' is here to stay and destined w lead all 
other types of recorded music," Mr. Folsom added: 

"That prediction has come true as we knew it would 
because of the determination and concerted efforts of 
scientists, artists and businessmen in calling the public's 
attention to the 45-system. We were confident that 
once the public was exposed to the '45' success would 
be assured because it represented progress in artistic 
fulfillment as well as simplicity, convenience and 
economy." 

Developmetits Continue 

The "45 " system, Mr. Folsom pointed out, is not 
"static," and because of its relationship with the un- 
limited possibilities inherent in electronics, it can con- 
tinually adapt itself to new advances. For example, RCA 
"Victor's "New Orthophonic" high fidelity records repre- 
sent the latest improvements in recorded sound. He 
cited the successful introduction in November, 1952, of 
the "Extended Play" — or EP — 45-rpm record as 
another important milestone in the progress of the 
system. The EP record, he said, won immediate accept- 
ance, and at the end of its first year, more than 10 million 
discs had been sold, providing the consumer "more 
music for less money." 

"Introduction of the EP record," continued Mr. 
Folsom, "was an important milestone in recorded enter- 
tainment because it permitted the development of new 
repertoire such as combining four hit tunes on one 
record. It has also enabled us to introduce new concepts 
in recorded entertainment like the new series which 
combines famous operatic arias sung in their original 
language by Metropolitan Opera artists with especially 
written adaptations in English. " 

Development of the "45s", Mr. Folsom pointed out, 
marked the first time a player and a record were de- 
signed as a matching unit. This brought about three 
distinct advantages, including: 

1. A distortion-free, seven inch disc of optimum 
quality which can be conveniently packaged in 
small storage space. 

2. A trigger-sharp, silently-working changer mecha- 
nism which eliminated both record damage and 
the need for adjusting the changer to discs of 
various sizes. 

3. The most compact '"Victrola" in the history of 
the industry offering the finest in quality repro- 
duction. 



The 200 millionth 45-rpm record gets a joyful inspection 

from artists Perry Como and Roberta Peters, and RCA 

Victor Record Division sales manager Larry Kanoga. 



"The 45-rpm system opened up new and untapped 
markets for the merch.mdising of the "Victrola' and 
phonograph records," Mr. Folsom said. "The 45-rpm's 
compact size made possible the expansion of customer 
self-service in stores and resulted in the trend toward 
super-market sales. Planned in terms of small homes 
and apartments where bookshelves would serve as stor- 
age cabinets, the new 'Victrola' and record found its way 
into many homes where conservation of space was essen- 
tial." 

He said that the unbreakable discs also offered: 

1. Eye-attracting window and counter display mate- 
rial for record dealers. 

2. A handy, compact portable imit for music enthu- 
siasts while traveling or for students and campus 
living. 

3. A sturdy, nursery-sized product for the kiddies' 
disc market. 

"The '45' system revitalized the entire record indus- 
try," Mr. Folsom said. "It has rendered a continuing 
ser\'ice to the consumer and the artist because it so 
faithfully reproduces music and sound. Because of the 
contribution it has made in increasing the confidence of 
the consumer in the lasting value of recorded music, the 
record industry is today on the threshold of its greatest 
period of opportunity and prosperity." 




RADIO AGE n 



RCA Introduces Its New Line of Home Instruments 

Elliott Calls for an Active Merchandisino- Effort and Realistic View of 

o 

Industry's Prospects; Emphasizes Role of Second TV Set in Home 



I 



RCA Victor will introduce in July a new line of 
television receivers designed to provide "the greatest 
values in the company's history," Henry G. Baker, Vice- 
President and General Manager of the RCA Victor 
Television Division, announced in mid-June. The line 
will include 20 basic models in three picture tube sizes 
— one 17-inch, thirteen 21-inch and six 24-inch receivers 
• — -with suggested retail prices ranging from $159-95 to 
$500. 

With the announcement came disclosure by Jack M. 
WiUiams, Advertising and Sales Promotion Manager of 
the television division and the RCA Victor Radio and 
"\ ictrola " Phonograph Division, that sale of the new TV 
sets and the new radio and "Victrola" phonograph lines 
will be supported by the largest advertising campaign in 
RCA Victor history. 

A few days earlier, Joseph B. Elliott, Executive Vice- 
President, Consumer Products, RCA, outlined what he 
called a realistic attitude toward the prospects and prob- 
lems facing the radio-television industry — a position that 
lies between the "feast of an optimist and the famine of 
a pessimist." Speaking to a convention of the National 
Association of Electrical Distributors at Atlantic City, 
N. J., Mr. Elliott said: 

"Today's business climate in the electronics field 
calls for level-headed thinking and action. It calls for 
work — and hard work — with the belief that the reward 
will be large. It calls for recognized brand merchandise 
of outstanding values and for a desire on the part of 
salesmen to demonstrate and establish these values firmly 
in the mind of the consumer." 

Sees Demand for Second TV Set 

Predicting that the public will be in a more receptive 
mood for television sales during the last quarter of the 
year, Mr. Elliott added: 

'More and more it becomes evident that the day of 
the second TV receiver is with us. It will soon be a 
must that in a mixed household of adults and children 
one screen will not be enough. The football game will 
hold adult attention for 150 minutes, but most of the 
yoimgsters will keep on demanding their Westerns at 
the same time. Through persistent and productive mer- 
chandising and promotion, we can see that peace is 
maintained in the family circle." 




The New Orthophonic High Fidelity "Victrola" Low-Boy 
phonograph, with 3-speed automatic record changer. 




The 21-inch Pickford, with vertical tuning controls and 
two powerful 8-inch speakers behind slanted grille. 



72 RADIO AGE 




The Wister, 21-inch swivel-based console model whose 
upper portion can be turned to face different positions. 



The new RCA television line announced subsequent 
to Mr. Elliott's speech was described by Mr. Baker as 
representing a positive course of action by RCA to 
maintain its television sales leadership in the changed 
market conditions of today. These four significant fac- 
tors were involved in planning the line, he said: 

1. An analysis of the market situation indicated that 
added values were desirable to maintain volume sales. 
Engineering, styling and design developments which had 
been in the planning stages were therefore accelerated 
to become available for the new line. 

2. The analysis also indicated the desirability of 
planning the strongest merchandising program in the 



history of the company. To carry this out, all operations 
connected with the manufacture and sale of television 
receivers were separated from those of the radio and 
phonograph business. The new organization, the RCA 
Victor Television Division, will now concentrate its 
efforts solely on the television receiver line. 

3. The increased activity in color television antici- 
pated this fall called for greater consumer values in 
black-and-white sets to maintain a high level of sales. 
The new line reflects RCA's optimistic outlook for 
healthy black-and-white business ahead. 

4. Consideration was also given the desirability of 
providing additional dealer incentive for selling up to 
higher priced models. As planned, the incorporation of 
special features, particularly the visible ones, makes pos- 
sible easy, logical step-up from model to model, or from 
group to group. If these features are utilized fully by 
the dealer, Mr. Baker predicted, it will result in increased 
dollar volume and profits. 

Features of the New Line 

Engineering highlights of the new line include newly 
designed chassis incorporating circuit improvements, and 
a new high-speed UHF (ultra-high frequency) continu- 
ously variable tuner resulting in pin-point station selec- 
tion and picture improvement in fringe areas. 

Describing development of the new vhf-uhf tuner 
as an important contribution to the extension of UHF 
broadcasting service, Mr. Baker said that RCA Victor 
will continue to manufacture UHF-equipped receivers in 
sufficient quantities to satisfy consumer requirements. 
He remarked that almost 28 per cent of TV receivers 
produced by RCA this year were equipped with UHF 
tuners at the factory. 

The new RCA Victor line consists of two series of 
models — the Super and the De Luxe — covering the 
17-, 21- and 24-inch receivers. To re-enter the 17-inch 
field actively, Mr. Baker said, RCA Victor will offer for 
the first time a set at $159.95. Incorporating a newly 
designed chassis, this model (the Trent) is expected to 
find important application as a second set in TV homes. 
To promote this use, a "Roll-Around " stand with wheels 
will be available. 

RCA Victor's basic plan to offer greater values in its 
new line also is indicated in a new group of swivel 
con.solettes in the 21-inch Super series. This receiver is 
mounted on a matching swivel base so that the screen 
can be rotated to provide maximum convenience in set 
location and viewing angle. Named the Wister, it will 
be available in grained limed oak finish at $229.95. As 
a specialty, it will also be offered in decorator finishes 
of grained charcoal oak and grained natural walnut, both 
listed at $325. 



RAD/O AGE 73 



The Eye that Sees One 10-Millionth of an Inch 



A 



NEW type of electron microscope, twice as power- 
ful as any now in use, will go to work this summer to 
help science probe more deeply than ever before into 
the nature of cancer. 

The first of the new instruments, developed and 
built by RCA, made its public debut on May 11 at 
the United Nations, New York, in ceremonies at which 
it was turned over to the world-renowned Karolinska 
Institute of Stockholm, Sweden. The institute, one of the 
world's leading centers of research in cell structure, 
already has made extensive use of earlier RCA electron 
microscopes. It is receiving the powerful new instru- 
ment under a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. 

With the new microscope, scientists will be able to 
study particles smaller than one lO-miUionth of an inch 
in diameter. Photographs taken by automatic cameras 




built into the slender pylon that houses the electron 
source and the lenses may be enlarged consistently up to 
200,000 times the size of the specimen — a scale at which 
an ordinary dime would measure more than two miles 
across. By comparison, the previous type of electron 
microscope, with which the polio virus was first observed, 
normally provides useful photographic enlargements 
only up to 100,000 times, although far greater enlarge- 
ments have been achieved by a relative handful of 
highly skilled microscopists. 

Accepted by U. N. Delegate 

At the United Nations ceremony, the powerful 
microscope was accepted for the Karolinska Institute by 
Oscar Thorsing, Permanent Delegate to the U.N. from 
Sweden. Theodore A. Smith, Vice-President in Charge, 
RCA Engineering Products Division, presented the in- 
strument to Mr. Thorsing, observing that its introduction 
coincided with the 15th anniversary of the development 
of the first electron microscope, produced by RCA in 
1939 and since employed in nearly every branch of scien- 
tific and industrial research. 

"We confidently believe that the many new features 
of this advanced instrument will pave the way to new 
knowledge to serve mankind everywhere," Mr. Smith 
said. 

Mr. Tiiorsing, accepting the microscope, read a letter 
from Dr. Fritiof S. Sjostrand, head of the Karolinska 
Institute, in which the Swedish scientist described the 
electron microscope as one of "the most important tech- 
nical instruments" in medical and biological research. 
Their use, he said, has helped to give scientists a fuller 
knowledge of the "most fundamental character of the 
life process." 

Dr. Sjostrand indicated in his letter that the power- 
ful new microscope will first be put to work to widen 
the scope of information about the construction of nor- 
mal cells in order to shed greater light on the nature of 
those which develop abnormally, as in cancer. 

"This work is now on foot and our earlier concep- 
tions of the cell structure have already had to be greatly 
modified," he wrote. "Only when sufficient observations 
have been made regarding normal cells, e.g., cells of the 

Oscar Thorsing, right, Swedish delegate to the U. N., 

listens as T. A. Smith, Vice-President in Charge, RCA 

Engineering Products Division, explains operation of the 

new electron microscope. 



^4 RADIO AGE 




degrees iiccordint; to the density and composition of its 
various parts. When the beam emerges from the far 
side, it bears the pattern or "image" of the specimen, 
which is then magnified by powerful magnetic lenses 
that act upon electron beams very much as glass lenses 
act upon light. The pattern finally is projected upon the 
viewing screen. 

The ordinary optical microscope, using light to form 
the image of the specimen, is limited in its range by the 
wave-length of visible light. Objects appreciably smaller 
than this wave-length fail to interrupt or reflect the light 
in any visible fashion. The electron beam, however, has 
a wave-length only one 100-thousandth as great as that 
of visible light, with the result that it is interrupted or 
reflected by far smaller particles. When RCA first intro- 
duced the electron microscope, the immediate effect was 
to multiply by fifty times the range of human vision into 
the world of infinitely small organisms and particles — 
and the new microscope has now doubled that range. 



First micrograph made with the new microscope shows 
minute section of muscle fiber magnified 100,000 times. 

nervous system, of the sense organs and the glands, can 
the study of pathologically transformed cells, such as 
the cancer cells, be expected to produce reliable results. 
There is hope that the analyses by electron microscopes 
wiU lead to discoveries which may cast light over the 
character of the cancerous process and thereby provide 
a clue to the understanding of the cancer disease." 

Differs From Earlier Models 

In appearance, the new microscope differs radically 
from earlier types. Two desk-type working surfaces, 
each backed by a sloping control panel, flank a slender 
7'/2-foot vacuum column that forms the heart of the 
instrument. The desk and control panel units are joined 
to the column at a slight forward angle to place all con- 
trols within reach of the operator, seated on a chair in the 
center. 

Built in the column at desk level is a viewing cham- 
ber equipped with windows on three sides to permit 
several persons to see the enlarged specimens at the same 
time. Magnification up to 30,000 times is obtained on 
the direct viewing screen, while enlargement up to 
200,000 or more times is achieved from photographs 
taken by automatic plate and roll film cameras housed 
in the column. 

The new microscope operates on the same principles 
as its less powerful predecessors. A concentrated beam of 
electrons, originating from an electron gun, is directed 
through the specimen to be observed. As the electrons 
pass through the specimen, they are affected in varying 



Improved Features Listed 

Dr. Robert G. Picard, Manager of Scientific Instru- 
ments Engineering, RCA Engineering Products Divi- 
sion, who designed the new instrument, told the U.N. 
audience that the basic objective of the new design was 
to make operation so simple that people without spe- 
cialized training can operate it successfully. The im- 
proved features that have contributed to this objective 
are: 

I. Push button control of practically all operations, 
including photography; 

2. A 30 per cent increase in resolving power — the 
ability to distinguish separate particles clearly at the 
outer limits of magnification; 

3. Provision of controls that allow the operator to 
correct astigmatism easily while watching the image — a 
process that has involved much time and manipulation 
in previous models; 

4. A new power supply, producing either 50,000 
or 100,000 volts, and giving the electrons higher energy 
to penetrate thick specimens; 

5. Stability in the electron gun, described by Dr. 
Picard as "an achievement which turned out to be the 
most difficult single engineering development in the 
new instrument." 

When it is installed at the Karolinska Institute, the 
new instrument will be the eighth RCA electron micro- 
scope in use in Sweden. Others of the new type are 
being built on order. 

More than 500 of the earlier electron microscopes 
already are in use on scientific and industrial research 
projects in the United States and 29 foreign countries. 



RAD/O AGE 15 



Electronic Trails 

around the World 




1 



.HE Greek mountain of Parnassus, in legend the 
spiritual retreat of Apollo, the Muses, and the Corycian 
nymphs, is crowned today by a parabolic radar antenna 
of American make and design. The antenna rotates on 
a rectangular block of white marble which might, and 
by all poetic standards should, have come from Apollo's 
3000-year-old temple on the southern flank of Parnassus 

The temple, its foundation still standing, formed the 
heart of the Delphic precinct. Delphi was, figuratively 
speaking, home territory for the Muses, those female 
divinities who presided over science, poetry, and art. 
Their science, presumably, did not embrace radar; but 
some unknown Greek workmen, schooled in mythology, 
possibly saw a link between the two. In any event, the 
radar apparatus was joined to a chunk of marble once 
exposed to the oracular winds and volcanic gases that 
carried messages from the Muses. 

The workmen might have reasoned that radar, like 
the Muses, opened a door to the unknown. 

"I couldn't swear," says P. B. ("Pincky") Reed, Vice- 
President in Charge of the Radio Corporation of Amer- 
ica's Government Service Department, "that the marble 
came from the old ruins. But that's what one of my 
Greek hosts told me. It wouldn't surprise me a bit if 
it did." 

An Electronic Trail 
Few things, indeed, would surprise Mr. Reed in the 
way of history, legend, or local custom. He has traveled 
well over 100,000 miles in the last three years. In one 
month alone, he logged 30,000 air miles hopping from 
New York to Alaska to Japan to Korea to Formosa to 
the Philippines to Guam to Hawaii and, finally, to 
California. 




P. B. Reed, enjoying a rare pause on his global beat, 
inspects the Parthenon with a Greek guide. 



Mr. Reed has a passing acquaintance with Ionic 
columns, Buddhist temples, Arctic shelters and Formosan 
cutlery. He acquired it simply by pursuing an electronic 
equipment trail around the globe. Wherever the Amer- 
ican military establishment harnesses the electron, Mr. 
Reed can be counted upon, sooner or later, to pop up. 

And if Mr. Reed isn't around, the odds are that one 
or more of his team of over 1,000 skilled electronic 
technicians is. They work with the armed services in 
22 foreign countries, in the United States and in U. S. 
possessions. They train military technicians on the in- 
stallation and service of radar, loran, shoran, two-way 
radio, guided missiles systems, microwave equipment, 
and the host of other RCA electronic devices in use by 
the Army, Navy and Air Force. 



16 RADIO AGE 



As a twin occupation, and at the behest of tiie Gov- 
ernment's Mutual Defense Assistance Program, they 
teach. They teach the science of electronics and its spe- 
cific military applications to Turks, Italians, Yugoslavs. 
Icelanders or whomever else the MDAP might designate. 
In this sense, they are de facto diplomatic representatives. 

A New LnHgi/age 

Most of these electronic emissaries, working out of 
RCA Government Service Department headquarters on 
the shores of the Delaware River in Gloucester, N. J., 
are graduate engineers. They go abroad for a minimum 
one-year hitch. By the time they return, they are often 
skilled linguists and the possessors of fine photographic 
albums. 

"One of the boys was just back from Italy," Mr. Reed 
recalls. "He didn't speak Italian when he went, but he 
certainly did when he returned. The trouble was, it was 
electronic Italian. He'd been lecturing to Italian tech- 
nicians, and he had a beautiful electronic vocabulary. 
He was fretting about how he was going to use it here." 

The electronic technicians are a relatively new breed 
of Americans abroad. They are an offspring of World 
War II when the armed services and American industry 
began adapting a vast array of electronic products to 
military use. The technician was put in uniform, at- 
tached to the staflf of local commanders in dififerent 
theaters, and charged with the responsibility of equip- 
ment maintenance, installation and technical instruction. 
He moved as close to the front as his equipment did. 
Next to the war correspondent, he probably witnessed 
more combat than any other American civilian. 



liu/z/i try's Answer 

The cold peace of the late Forties, and then Korea, 
saw the service expand. America's policy of communist 
containment hinged on military bases from the Aleutians 
to the Dardanelles to the South China Sea — and on 
shoring up the military establishments of allied nations. 
In both cases, electronic equipment was essential to the 
proper defensive posture. Civilian technicians who could 
train military personnel, who could fly anywhere, any- 
time, on emergency missions, who could serve as a direct 
information channel from industry on new equipment 
developments; they were the obvious, and most eco- 
nomical, answer to the military's needs. 

So the RCA Service Company, formed originally to 
install and service radio and television sets, created the 
Government Service Department as a civilian adjunct of 
the armed services. The bulk of its men rotate around 
Zone of the Interior bases, but over 250 technicians are 
now stationed abroad and the foreign service is growing 
like ragweed. New teams are being shaped up at the 
present time for Far Eastern nations. And a special fly- 
ing squad of 40 engineers has been set up to trouble- 
shoot on worldwide basis. 

The foreign service is controlled by Thomas G. 
Whitney, who is field operations manager in Mr. Reed's 
department. In the security-conscious headquarters at 
Gloucester, his office resembles a military command post 
— except that Mr. Whitney dresses in the quiet grays 
of a banker. A wall-size map opposite his desk is punc- 
tured with colored pins, each representing an individual 
or a team of servicemen. The phone on his desk gives 
him quick contact with cities such as Frankfurt, Weis- 
baden and Tokyo. 




This could be any of numerous airports 
where Mr. Reed has waited between 
planes: Rhein-Main, Frankfurt, Germany. 



Business in Rome with Italian officers and 

two RCA technicians — Mr. Reed, center, 

John Basse and Harry Mills, right. 



Another day, another country. A Portu- 
guese Boy Scout talks with Mr. Reed dur- 
ing a ferry crossing at Lisbon. 



RADIO AGE 17 



"Speed and mobility are important in this business," 
Mr. Whitney explains. "When the armed services want 
a job done, they want it done fast. It's up to us to get 
hold of the right man and move him where he's needed. 
If we can't locate the man ourselves, we don't hesitate 
to ask our Embassies or military headquarters abroad to 
assist us. They're very helpful that way. 

"For example, the Air Force recently wanted a spe- 
cial microwave survey made for a two-way radio installa- 
tion at Fontainebleau in France. The man with the best 
technical background for the job happened to be in 
Tokyo. We got hold of him out there by telephone via 
Signal Corps headquarters. He hopped a plane and had 
his survey under way within a week in France. 

The Flying Forty 

"As a matter of fact, this type of thing is becoming 
so widespread that RCA's Engineering Products Division 
— which builds electronic equipment for the services — 
decided to help us with a flying Squad of Forty based in 
Camden, N. J. It's a mobile engineering reserve, each 
member ready to take off for Tibet or Tunisia just about 
as quickly as a local repairman can leave his shop to 
handle a job in your home." 

Most of the technicians, according to Mr. Whitney, 
have a sound electronics background before they're 
selected by RCA. They're given a fine-tooth security 
investigation and then assembled at Gloucester for a 
five-to-six week refresher and indoctrination course. 

"In addition to the government security check, we 
do a pretty thorough screening job on our own," Mr. 
Whitney explains. "We look for fellows with tact, good 
personalities and stable backgrounds. We don't want 
the type of man who will go to India and make public 




Tank obstacles in central Germany form a background 
for Mr. Reed and Ed Johnston, former RCA Service Com- 
pany supervisor for the U. S. Armed Forces in Europe 
and now at the U. S. Air Force Airways and Air Com- 
munications Service in Washington. 



wisecracks about cows. In other words, we try to get 
men who will be a credit to the country and to RCA 
when they're abroad." 

Some of the foreign work is so highly classified, 
according to Mr. Whitney, that "we don't even know 
what many of our boys are working on." Once they 
report to the local commander, they are, in effect, on 
his staff. 

"In this connection, we tell them pretty frankly 
about the hazards they might run. A few of our men 
have had tight squeezes in the past, and they might in 
the future. In the Korean War, one of our technicians 
stayed with his equipment in Seoul until the rear guard 
evacuated just minutes before the North Koreans entered. 
Another was in Teheran during the Mossadegh coup. 
He had to get out with the British oil men and he had 
a close shave in doing it." 

The Old Appeal 

Despite the hazards, Mr. Whitney says, many of the 
technicians take to life abroad. Some stay four or five 
years. Some, of course, follow the established G. I. 
custom of falling in love and marrying foreign women. 

"I guess a half-dozen of our men from the Far East, 
for example, have married Japanese women. Some have 
returned to the States with their wives and are working 
for us here. That's fine as far as we're concerned." 

There is a less glamorous side of the Government 
Service Department but one that is in every sense as 
vital as foreign service. A large staff, under Mr. Reed's 
direction, devotes itself to the preparation of technical 
manuals, equipment diagrams and digests of new in- 
formation for government use. This material flows into 
the armed services in a steady stream. It keeps techni- 
cians in step with industrial electronic activities. 

Then, too, there is the domestic service, larger in 
scope than the foreign. The home staffers work at air 
bases, Signal Corps installations. Naval electronic cen- 
ters. They also give technical instruction, and they also 
work with highly classified experimental equipment. A 
typical example is the Air Force Missile Test Center at 
Cocoa, Fla., where one of Mr. Reed's groups has just 
tackled the job of maintaining and analyzing electronic 
guidance apparatus for the latest in Air Force missiles. 

To maintain organizational unity, Mr. Reed twice a 
year brings in his top foreign technicians — his field 
managers as he calls them — for a meeting at Camden 
and Gloucester. Many of them come half-way around 
the world as casually as a Kiwanian would go from New 
York to Philadelphia for a Golden Rule session. 

Like Mr. Reed, they are wedded to the idea that theirs 
is a world-wide business, and that time and distance are 
minor obstacles to accomplishment in this electronic age. 



)8 RADIO AGE 



The Maestro Retires 



A small, white-haired man walked slowly off the 
stage in Carnegie Hall, New York, last April 4, his 
head bowed. It was Arturo Toscanini leaving for the 
last time after his farewell appearance with the NBC 
Symphony Orchestra. 

Toscanini at 87 had decided to retire. He revealed 
the decision in a letter written to Brig. General David 
Sarnoff, Chairman of the Board of RCA, the man who 
founded the NBC Symphony 17 years ago as an instru- 
ment for the incomparable talents of the veteran con- 
ductor. At the end of the final concert, neither the 
orchestra itself nor the cheering audience in the hall 
knew that this was Toscanini's farewell — which was 
the way he wanted it. He left as he had always worked, 
simply and modestly. 

The first Toscanini concert with the NBC Symphony 
took place on Christmas night, 1937. Except for one 
year when he was on leave (1941-42) and conducted 
only five Treasury concerts for Bond sales, he was 
regular conductor of the orchestra up to the end of 
the season just completed. His broadcast concerts with 
this group, according to music critics, were among the 
most exciting musical events in America. 

During World War II, Toscanini directed the 
orchestra in many other War Bond concerts, raising 
large sums of money. He also conducted for the Red 
Cross. And although he had refused a quarter-million 
dollar offer to make a single film for Hollywood, he 
worked free for the United States government in making 
the film "Hymn of Nations" in 1944. 

In 1950, at the age of 83, he took the NBC Sym- 
phony on a coast-to-coast tour of the United States, 
covering 20 cities in personal appearances before thou- 
sands who previously had enjoyed his music only over 
the air or through recordings. 

35 Years of Recordings 

Even in retirement from his 17-year association 
with NBC, Toscanini has left a rich musical heritage 
in the form of symphonic and operatic recordings made 
over the past 33 years — and others, already recorded 
by RCA Victor but not yet processed for distribution, 
are yet to come. 

His recordings of the Beethoven Ninth Symphony, 
"Missa Solemnis" and "The Pines of Rome" and "The 
Fountains of Rome" were RCA Victors" sales leaders 
among all albums during February. The Beethoven 




Arturo Toscanini 



Nmth, which has sold more than 140,000 albums since 
its 1952 release, has been the company's leading Red 
Seal album for the past two years. 

Best-Selling Compositions 

The variety of Toscanini's musical interests and 
appeal is illustrated by his best-selling recordings since 
1921 — besides the compositions of Beethoven and 
Brahms, they have included the "Skaters' Waltz" and 
the "Grand Canyon Suite." The most popular of the 
Toscanini recordings was his collaboration with Vladi- 
mir Horowitz on the Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto, 
of which 350,000 albums have been bought up to the 
present time. 

His recorded versions of the operas "La Boheme," 
'La Traviata" and "Otello" have been hailed as definitive 
by the leading music critics, and the repertoire of opera 
is to be increased by the "Falstaff" and "Masked Ball" 
albums which RCA Victor hopes to release this fall. 



RADIO AGE ?9 




An RCA research team a\ Rocky Point, L. I., uses this system to photograph the face of the sun. Sun's rays (1) strike 
clock-driven mirror which reflects them (2) directly at stationary mirror. The image then is directed (3) at six-inch 
telescope lens, which passes it in magnified form (4) along 40-foot pipe to camera plate holder in structure at rear. 



They Explore the Face of the Sun 



C 



/ONTEMPLATION of the sun, a pursuit of curious 
men since history began, is the task at RCA's Rocky 
Point, L. I., laboratories, of a physicist and two engineers 
who are confident that their venture into astronomy is 
harvesting down-to-earth knowledge of how radio waves 
behave. 

With a simple telescope, the working elements of 
which are at the ends of a 40-foot section of glazed tile 




pipe, the Rocky Point solar research team has been 
taking a remarkable series of photographs which enable 
them to look at details of the sun's surface that have 
never been studied before. 

Dr. William A. Miller, who has developed a deep 
aversion to clouds in the three years he has headed this 
unique sun-watching program, is convinced that the 
Rocky Point telescope, and the techniques that the tanned 
trio have mastered in using it, are already complementing 
the work of the world's great solar observatories. 

At the same time, he is optimistic that their research 
can lead to more precise and simpler methods of pre- 
dicting the solar-caused disturbances that play such havoc 
with long-distance radio communications. 

A Centtiry-Lotig Quest 

Over the past hundred years, astronomers, physicists, 
chemists and radio engineers have devised a number ol 
ingenious ways of figuring out what is happening on 
the sun. 

These scientists, for example, can split a sunbeam in 
a spectroscope's prism and learn of the sun's chemistry 

Dr. William A. Miller examines clock-driven mirror with 
which the sun is tracked for the improvised telescope. 

20 RADIO AGE 



Or they can apply theories of atomic and nuclear physics 
to mysteries of the solar furnace, an approacii that has 
explained much in recent years. By charting the relation- 
ships between changes seen on the sun, such as sunspots, 
and unusual behavior of radio signals, other clues have 
been made available. 

Among the most fruitful investigations have been 
those in which the sun's rim is photographed during an 
eclipse, producing spectacular and informative pictures 
of violent solar activity. With optically simulated 
eclipses ( coronagraphs ) , astronomers have taken many 
more silhouettes of the sun's outer atmosphere. 

A neglected approach, however, is examination of 
the sun "full-face," instead of in profile, and photograph- 
ing sections of its surface in great detail. It is to this 
technique that the Rocky Point group is devoting so 
much of its effort. 

"Head-on" examination of the sun's surface, thougii 
not new, is a method virtually dormant for seventy years. 
In the 1870's the famous French astronomer, Pierre Jules 
Cesar Janssen, took such pictures and was able to show, 
for the first time, the granular, cooked-cereal texture of 
the solar surface. Janssen's classic photographs have 
appeared in standard texts over the years as the best of 
their kind. But they were, in many ways, ahead of their 
time and raised as many astronomical questions as they 
answered. 

Smooth Air Aids Observation 

Speculating on the hiatus of detailed "full-face" solar 
photography since Janssen's time, Dr. Miller points out 
that most modern solar observatories have been perched 
at higher and higher altitudes to take advantage of the 
increased transparency of the earth's atmosphere. Though 
these mountaintop sites give many occasions of good 
viewing of the sun's outer atmosphere — • the corona and 
chromosphere — they are usually the worst possible 
locations for seeing the solar disc in great detail. The 
sun heats the air around the mountain, violent updrafts 
form and the sun's image dances in an optical instru- 
ment. 



In profile at various levels of the sun's atmosphere are 
some of the phenomena the Rocky Point group are ob- 
serving In full-face studies of the solar disc (see photo 
on page 22). The photosphere is the layer visible to the 
eye; outer zones are more ratified. Both the eruptive 
flare and jet-like spicules are believed to be near the 
start of different chains of events that often disrupt long- 
distance radio communications on earth. Also under 
scrutiny are granules, which give sun's face a cooked- 
cereal texture in photographs. 

RADIO AGE 21 




SOLAR INTERIOR 



Rocky Point, on the other hand, turns out to be one 
of the world's best spots for what Dr. Miller terms 
"optical tranquility." The flat terrain of Long Island 
usually allows a smooth flow of air, carried by the pre- 
vailing southerly winds, across the Rocky Point area and 
into Connecticut before turbulence and thunderstorms 
develop. Contrary to expectations, the frequent Long 
Island haze does not normally interfere with their solar 
photographs and is viewed by the Rocky Point group as 
a good omen indicating the atmosphere above them is 
quiet. 

Getting their best results in the late spring, summer 
and early fall, the team has had over the past two years 
an average of 75 days when they made pictures whose 
detail was limited only by the resolving power of their 
6-inch telescopic lens. (Janssen, it is interesting to note 
took only 25 to 30 comparable shots in a decade. ) Twice 
as many additional days a year are suitable for taking 
valuable, if not perfect, pictures of the sun. 

"Give us just two minutes' break in the clouds, and 
we'll get a shot," says Dr. Miller. 

May Aid Radio Prediction 

As their pictures pile up, the team sees emerge a 
definite pattern of details that may well form the basis 
of a valuable radio prediction service. 

Radio engineers have realized for some time that 
long-range high-frequency communication is feasible 
because of layers of ionized gas lying in thick spherical 
shells around the earth's surface. The layers of the 
ionosphere (a zone lying 50 to 300 miles above us) act 
as mirrors reflecting radio waves back to the earth's 
surface. 

If these layers were fixed in altitude and constant in 
their electrical reflecting properties, there would be no 
problem. But this is hardly the case. To circumvent the 
vagaries of the ionosphere, radio stations must con- 
stantly change frequencies or reroute circuits. 

Fortunately, some of the variations in the ionosphere 
can be anticipated. Seasonal changes and nocturnal 
changes, for example, have been well charted simply by 
observing actual radio circuits year after year. But most 
of the changes are more elusive. Some appear to be com- 
pletely random. Others may recur more or less regularly, 
but with unpredictable intensity. Dr. Miller's group is 
particularly anxious to pin down the latter disruptions 
because they cause the most distress. 

How the Sun Affects Ionosphere 

As Dr. Miller explains it, there are two ways in 
which the sun can influence the ionosphere. First, by 
direct electromagnetic radiation — X-rays or ultraviolet 



rays — which travels at the speed of light from the sun 
to the ionosphere in 8 minutes. Such bursts of radiation 
from the sun appear to be the cause of sudden and often 
complete radio fadeouts called Dellinger fades. For- 
tunately, these last for only 20 or 30 minutes and never 
more than two or three hours. 

The second way the sun is believed to alter the iono- 
sphere is by sending out actual streams of ionized par- 
ticles. Such solar bombardments travel more slowly than 
radiation, taking perhaps two or three days to make the 
93 million-mile journey. They are considered a likely 
cause of the so-called great magnetic storms. These rare 
but violent disturbances, which may not be felt for years 
at a time, can knock out radio communications for days 
and can so disrupt the earth's magnetic field as to cripple 
wire and cable communications as well. 

That both radiation and beams of particles can be 
agents of ionospheric caprices is evidenced by the fact 
that radiation as felt in a Dellinger fade is disruptive 
only on the sunny half of the earth. A great magnetic 
storm, on the other hand, will be felt simultaneously on 
the light and dark hemispheres, suggesting that the earth 
is passing through a great shower of particles which have 
been rapidly dispersed throughout the ionosphere by 
the earth's magnetic field. 

Astronomers are fairly well agreed that both these 
types of disturbance spring from the same phenomenon 
— solar flares. These sudden, short-lived brightenings of 
small regions of the sun's surface are usually seen in the 
neighborhood of sunspots. Flares are often noticed at 










Minute sechoii of the sun's face, showing granular tex- 
ture of the solar surface. Large block areas are sun- 
spots: the tiny black dots are believed to be "spicules" 
— jets of heated material rising from interior of the sun. 



22 RADIO AGE 



the time of a Dellinger fade and they appear to project 
enough radiation to account for this phenomenon on the 
earth. 

When great magnetic storms occur they follow by 
two or three days a Dellinger fade, which would suggest 
that they are the result of a properly directed beam of 
particles spewed out by the same flare that produced 
radiation for the Dellinger fade. In addition, both of 
these ionospheric upsets are more frequent during the 
peak years of the 23-year sunspot cycle, which is also 
the time of the greatest number of observed flares. 

Another Cause Is Sought 

It would simplify the propagation expert's life if the 
solar flare could be named the villain of all radio com- 
munication breakdown, not just the Dellinger fades and 
great magnetic storms. Unhappily, the flare, according 
to most theories, can be assigned only a relatively minor 
role. Flares are short-lived and erratic, while the iono- 
spheric disturbances that yet elude full explanation — 
the somewhat regular ones known as M-region disturb- 
ances — appear to be caused by something that lives for 
many months on the sun, reappearing several times in 
rough synchronization with the sun's 27-day rotational 
period. 

Gaining support from experts is the hypothesis that 
the sun's outer atmosphere, the corona, has at all times 
a number of invisible long arms that sweep out millions 
of miles into space. Some of these coronal streamers 
would be aimed, as it were, to intercept the earth in its 
orbit. Unlike the flare-caused beams of particles, coronal 
streamers would be semi-permanent projections of the 
corona, lasting for several cycles of the sun's 27-day 
rotational period. The Rocky Point trio is working 
with other solar observers to check the validity of this 
theory. 

A goal of Dr. Miller's current studies is to establish 
beyond a doubt what it is on the sun's surface that can 
build up the corona to such an extent that a streamer 
will be cast out into space. The Rocky Point photo- 
graphs are, as he puts it, "not in disagreement with 
modern theories of the corona and the formation of 
streamers." 

The detailed "full-face" photographs do not reveal 
the whispy streamers themselves but they do show a 
generous sprinkling of black dots which have never been 
"isolated" before. These dots, Dr. Miller explains, are 
probably a bird's-eye view of solar spicules, a short-lived 
but common activity of the sun first discovered, on the 
sun's rim, only 14 years ago. They may well be long 
narrow jets of heated material from the interior of the 
sun that pop right through the sun's surface, spewing 
new matter up into the corona. 




The research team lines up sun's image on screen before 

exposing film in the camera plate holder. Left to right 

are A. B. Moulton, Ralph E. Franklin, and Dr. Miller. 



Hoiv Stieameis May Be Born 

Normally, the theory goes, spicules reinforce the 
corona at a steady rate. But when an above-average 
number of spicules are clustered in a particular region 
on the sun, and if, at the same time, there are "favor- 
able" distortions of the sun's magnetic field in that 
area, the corona bulges and a streamer is born. 

That the spicules seen as dots in the Rocky Point 
photographs are the same things seen as long thin spikes 
in coronagraphs, has been the subject of considerable 
checking at Rocky Point. Dr. Miller is now optimistic 
that this correlation can soon be established: the black 
dots have roughly the same lifetime (3-4 minutes), the 
same size (5-6000 miles in diameter, miniscule by solar 
standards) and the same population density as the 
spicules seen by others in profile photographs. 

Riding herd on spicules along with Dr. Miller are 
A. B. Moulton and Ralph E. Franklin. Both have been 
engaged in communications and research engineering 
with RCA for nearly thirty-five years, and both boast 
years of experience as backyard astronomers. 

To help in analysis and interpretation of their pic- 
tures, the Rocky Point trio are receiving the assistance 
of Dr. Walter Orr Roberts, Dr. Joseph N. Rush, and 
other solar experts of the High Altitude Observatory of 
Harvard and Colorado Universiries, at Climax, Colorado, 
under a contracr with RCA Laboratories. The superla- 
tive coronagraphic results obtained at Climax are avail- 
able for continuing comparison with the "full-face" 
observations of Rocky Point. 



RAD/O AGE 23 



«a*r:_> 



.•-v/' 



c,/ 



ibNBC 






w9^.^ 




One of the two trucks of NBC's Color Mobile Unit in New York before starting its tour. 

NBC Takes to the Road with Color TV 



Color television's first studio on wheels — the two- 
truck Color Mobile Unit of the National Broadcasting 
Company — focussed its cameras on the famed Biisch 
estate in St. Louis on June 9, beginning a 10-city tour 
that will take it through the midwestern and eastern 
United States for a series of outdoor color features for 
the NBC network. 

By the end of June, the NBC color cameras hud 
televised scenes from Milwaukee's Whitnall Park, the 
color and activity of life on a modern farm near Chi- 
cago, and the Ohio Governor's mansion at Columbus. 
Ahead on the schedule were visits to Cleveland, Wash- 
ington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston and New York, 
with a colorful aspect of local life planned for presenta- 
tion from each city. 

The features picked up by the mobile unit are being 
presented on the "Home" and "Today" shows over the 
NBC network. In every city where either or both pro- 
grams are seen, local NBC stations and RCA dealers, as 
well as one or more leading department stores, have 
been equipped with RCA color TV sets on which the 
public is able to view the live pick-ups from the field in 
their natural color. Thanks to the compatibility of RCA 



color television, the colorcasts from the mobile unit will 
be seen in black-and-white on monochrome TV sets. 

The Color Mobile Unit, consisting of two trucks of 
20 tons capacity each, is the only one of its kind in 
existence. Designed by NBC engineers under the super- 
vision of O. B. Hanson, former NBC Vice-President and 
Chief Engineer, recently elected Vice-President, Opera- 
tions Engineering, RCA, the unit made its network 
debut last January 1 when it covered the Tournament 
of Roses parade in Pasadena, California. 

NBC Color "Spectaculars" 

With the unit on the road for its series of outdoor 
features, NBC continued preparation for an ambitious 
schedule of precedent-shattering color "spectaculars" be- 
ginning in early autumn. Three distinct series of spec- 
taculars have been planned, each consisting of thirteen 
90-minute shows designed to range across the colorful 
panorama of show business, with participation by the 
most celebrated stars and directors in existing and origi- 
nal musical comedies, operettas, contemporary and classi- 
cal drama, circuses, aquacades and ice shows. 

Two of the series will be produced by Max Liebman, 



74 RADIO AGE 



producer of "Your Show of Shows," while the third is 
to be produced by Leland Hayward. Each series will be 
presented at the rate of one show a month — the Liebman 
productions scheduled for 10:30 to midnight on Satur- 
days and 7:30 to 9 p.m. on Sundays, and the Hayward 
productions from 8 to 9:30 p.m. on Mondays. The first 
will go on the air from 7:30 to 9 p.m. on Sunday, Sep- 
tember 12, featuring film star Betty Hutton in a special 
musical comedy written for her. This program also will 
inaugurate color TV broadcasting from the huge new 
NBC television studio in Brooklyn, N. Y. 

New Color Equipment 

The step-up in color broadcasting activity is being 
accompanied by other RCA advances in color equipment 
engineering and servicing, and in receiver manufacture. 

Joseph B. Elliott, Executive Vice-President, Consiuner 
Products, RCA, disclosed on June 10 that RCA Victor 
color television receivers to be introduced in the fall will 
employ the new and very latest RCA shadow mask 19- 
inch tube, using the full area of the tube face and pro- 
viding larger and brighter color pictures of approxi- 
mately 205 square inches. 

"The new tri-color tube will incorporate a recently 
developed 3-gun assembly, shorter and with higher effi- 
ciency, producing outstanding brilliance and picture 
quality with increased stability, ' he said. "The new tube 
does not require any change whatsoever in the circuitry 
of the color receiver." 

In the field of color equipment, a new "3-V" camera 
developed by the RCA Engineering Products Division 
for telecasting color motion pictures made its debut on 
June 25, when NBC broadcast 35-mm film in color 
publicly for the first time in television history. Previ- 
ously only l6-mm film had been shown publicly in color 
television, and the new development was hailed by the 
press as a major forward stride in color TV and a vast 
improvement over all earlier color film presentations. 

The new camera employs three RCA Vidicon pickup 
tubes and a light-splitting optical system comprising two 
dichroic mirrors placed at angles in front of the projector. 
The first of the mirrors reflects the blue portions of the 
projected image to one of the Vidicons, permitting the 
red and green portions to pass through to the second 
mirror. The second mirror reflects the red portions to 
the second \ idicon and allows the green portions to pass 
through to the third Vidicon. Each of the Vidicon units 
generates a signal for bro.adcast representing its own 
color portion of the original image. 

The development of new equipment to speed instal- 
lation and maintenance of color receivers was announced 
by E. C. Cahill, President of the RCA Service Company. 
The equipment features a "color stripe generator" de- 




The versatility of color television was demonstrated by 

NBC during the spring with a colorcast from the 

Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

signed by the Service Company to transmit a video signal 
that will enable a service technician to determine 
whether a color TV set installed in a home is actually 
receiving color signals. 

Mr. Cahill said that the system, costing about S500, 
can be installed easily by TV broadcasting stations al- 
ready equipped to carry network color programs, and 
in other stations when they modify equipment to handle 
color. The test signal transmitted by the equipment con- 
sists of a narrow vertical yellow-green bar visible at the 
edge of the viewing screen on color sets, but practically 
invisible on the screen of a black-and-white set. 

Anas Sung and Acted 

Opera lovers long accustomed to listening to words 
they don't understand can now break through the lan- 
guage barrier by means of RCA Victor's new series of 
records titled "Arias Sung and Acted." 

The unusual twin packaging of the spoken word and 
song, conceived by George R. Marek, Director of Artists 
and Repertoire, RCA Victor Record Division, has re- 
sulted in a new album of famous arias acted in English 
by players of the legitimate stage and then sung in their 
original language by famous stars of the Metropolitan 
Opera. 

The acting and singing versions of the arias are 
portrayed in the new album by Judith Anderson and 
Rise Stevens, who are cast as "Carmen," Dennis King 
and Leonard 'Warren as "Rigoletto" and "Tonio;" 
Deborah Kerr and Licia Albanese portraying Mimi from 
"La Boheme " and Violetta from "La Traviata;" Dennis 
King and Robert Merrill as the Germont pere of "La 
Traviata," and Gerald ine Brooks and Joseph Cotton with 
Zinka Milanov and Jussi Bjoerling as "A'ida" and "Ra- 
dames." 



RADIO AGE 25 



New Daylight Viewing Screen for Radar 
Can Hold an Image for Minutes 



A 



RADAR viewing screen capable of retaining for 
several minutes a picture so bright that it can be clearly 
seen even in brilliant sunlight may result from a new 
electron picture tube developed by a research team at 
the David Sarnoff Research Center of RCA at Princeton, 
N.J. 

The tube has been designed as a simple electronic 
tool for the direct daylight viewing of radar in an air- 
plane cockpit or on the bridge of a ship. Today, airborne 
or marine radar screens are hooded to prevent daylight 
from obscuring the relatively dim images that appear. 
and even under a hood that cuts out all daylight the 
viewer may have to wait for 2 or 3 minutes before his 
eyes adapt themselves to the low light level of the radar 
image. 




Fine details of test pattern on the new picture tube are 
examined by H. O. Hook, of the development team. 



A distant cousin of the television kinescope, the new 
tube was developed by RCA scientists under a United 
States Army Signal Corps contract. The development 
team included Dr. Max Knoll, H. O. Hook and Dr. R. P. 
Stone, all of the Princeton laboratories staff. 

Far Brighter than Standard TV Picture 

The tube is able to present pictures five to ten times 
brighter than those on a standard television kinescope, 
or picture tube, and to retain a half-tone image on the 
screen for some 30 seconds without any deterioration, 
or up to several minutes in useable form. In radar scan- 
ning reproduction, the viewing duration needs only to 
be about ten seconds before a new picture is to be dis- 
played. 

In other applications where half-tone reproductions 
are not required, such as the display on an airplane in- 
strument panel of continuous visual instructions from a 
ground station, a single black-and-white image can be 
held on the tube for an hour or longer. The RCA 
research team said these characteristics of the tube point 
to possible use in airborne facsimile systems, oscillo- 
scopes, and wherever a bright electronic picture of 
transient data needs to be held over extended periods for 
viewing or photographing. 

In appearance and operation, the developmental tube 
is a small approximation of the standard television pic- 
ture tube. Like the latter type, it uses controlled streams 
of electrons to paint a picture on a phosphor-coated 
screen on the face of the tube. However, to present 
exceedingly bright pictures and to retain them on the 
tube face for minutes or longer, a number of different 
techniques were developed. 

Three Electron Guns 

In the neck of the tube are three electron guns, each 
producing an independent stream of electrons directed 
toward the tube face. One of these, similar to the elec- 
tron gun in a standard kinescope, "writes in" the picture. 
The second gun floods the viewing area with a con- 
tinuous shower of electrons, producing the picture seen 
on the phosphor screen. The third "erases" the retained 
picture when it has served its purpose. 

In a standard television picture tube, the writing 
beam directly scans the phosphors on the viewing screen, 



26 rad;o age 



K 



y s 




mi 



'*'*'. 



W * w.: - 



Dr. R. P. Stone, another of the development team, puts final touches on the new tube before testing. 



making them glow in a pattern that creates the picture. 
In the new storage tube, however, the writing beam does 
not produce the picture directly — it scans a special 
storage grid mounted about one-tenth of an inch behind 
the phosphor-coated screen. The grid is a fine-mesh 
screen (160,000 openings per square inch) supporting 
a thin insulating film. As the writing beam scans the 
insulating film, it builds up local electrical charges whose 
intensity varies with the pattern of the picture signal. 
As the picture is thus built up on the grid, the con- 
tinuous shower of electrons from the second gun passes 
through the charged openings of the grid, acquiring as 
it passes the pattern built up at these openings by the 
writing beam. The shower, or "flooding beam", then 
strikes the phosphor coating of the viewing screen, 
creating the picture for the observer. 

The Erasing Beam 

Because the flooding beam continues to pass through 
the charges built up on the grid, the picture remains for 
some time on the screen. The erasing beam, controlled 
either by the viewer or automatically by associated cir- 
cuits, may be brought into play at any time to clear the 
tube face for a new picture. It does this by altering the 



charges on the storage grid in such a way that the flood- 
ing beam is blocked at all points, preventing the shower 
of electrons from striking the phosphors of the tube face. 

A non-electronic analogy to the process can be found 
in coating a window screen with heavy paint and hold- 
ing it above a table in the sunlight. If a pattern is traced 
on the screen with turpentine, clearing paint from some 
of the holes, sunlight may pass through and create an 
image of the pattern on the table surface. Repainting 
the screen will cause the image to disappear. In this 
analogy, the table represents the phosphor-coated view- 
ing screen, the window screen represents the storage 
grid, the action of the turpentine compares to the action 
of the writing beam, the sunlight to the flooding beam, 
and the repainting to the erasing process. 

In its present form for radar application, the tube 
has a viewing screen 4 inches in diameter, capable of 
presenting an image of hundreds of foot lamberts of 
brightness in its high-lighted portions. To produce this 
brightness, the tube requires considerably less anode volt- 
age than does the standard television picture tube, largely 
because of the tube's ability to light every spot on the 
viewing screen continuously with the flooding beam 
rather than intermittently, as is the case in the TV 
kinescope. 



RAD/O AGE 77 





Dr. Elmer W. Engstrom 



Ewen C. Anderson 







41k 




Dr. Irving Wolff 



m m 

Dr. D. H. Ewing O. B. Hanson 



Five Executive Promotions Announced by RCA 



Promotion of five executives to new positions of 
responsibility was announced last month by Brig. Gen- 
eral David Sarnoff, Chairman of the Board of RCA — 
four of them named at a meeting of the Board of 
Directors on June 4. 

Dr. Elmer W. Engstrom, Executive Vice-President, 
RCA Laboratories, was elected Executive Vice-President, 
Research and Engineering, continuing at the same time 
as head of RCA Laboratories. In his new position, Dr. 
Engstrom has been given broad responsibility for all 
research and engineering activities of RCA. 

Ewen C. Anderson, Vice-President, Commercial De- 
partment of RCA, was elected Executive Vice-President, 
Commercial Department, with responsibility for all 
patent license matters for RCA. Both Dr. Engstrom and 
Mr. Anderson will have their headquarters in the RCA 
Executive Offices in Radio City, New York. 

Dr. Irving Wolff, previously Director of Research, 



was appointed Vice-President, Research. RCA Labora- 
tories, Princeton, N. J. Dr. D. H. Ewing, who had 
been director of the RCA Physical and Chemical Re- 
search Laboratory, was appointed Administrative Direc- 
tor, RCA Laboratories. 

O. B. Hanson, previously Vice-President and Chief 
Engineer of the National Broadcasting Company, was 
elected to the RCA staff as Vice-President, Operations 
Engineering. In his new position, he has been given 
responsibility for engineering matters pertaining to 
broadcast and communications operations and for direct- 
ing the activities of the RCA Frequency Bureau. 

The promotions of Drs. Engstrom, Wolff and Ewing 
and Mr. Hanson were designed to coordinate the re- 
search and engineering activities of the RCA organiza- 
tion as part of an over-all plan adopted earlier this year 
to meet the needs of the Corporation's steadily expand- 
ing business. 



28 RADIO AGE 







RCA Stockholders listen to the Chairman's Report at the Annual Meeting on May 4. 

New First-Quarrer Sales Record is Set by RCA 
B 



' USINESS volume of the Radio Corporation of Amer- 
ica for the first three months of 1954 was the largest 
of any first quarter period in the history of the Corpo- 
ration, Brig. General David SarnofT, Chairman of the 
Board of RCA, announced on May 4 at the 35th Annual 
Meeting of RCA Stockholders in a studio of the National 
Broadcasting Company in Radio City, New York. 

"Our present inventories are well balanced with 
current sales and we foresee a good volume of business 
for the year 1954 as a whole," declared General Sarnofl. 
"We believe that color television will speed the day 
when the volume of RCA business will reach and exceed 
a billion dollars a year. 

"The youngest child in the electronics industry — 
color television — offers the greatest stimulus for progress 
and the surest promise for prosperity. In our new, 
rapidly developing and fast changing art and industry, 
it is only natural to find growing pains and constant 
need for appraisal and adjustment. However, these 
symptoms of youth respond to intelligent treatment 
with much greater promise for a healthy future than 
do the ailments of old age. 

"We look forward to the future of this promising 
industry and the maintenance of RCA's recognized 
position of leadership with complete confidence." 

Sales For First Quarter 

General Sarnofl said first-quarter sales of RCA 
products and services amounted to $226,609,000, an 
increase of 9 per cent over the first quarter of 1953- 



Profits, before Federal taxes, amounted to §20,470,000. 
After providing $10,404,000 for these taxes, the net 
profit for the quarter amounted to $10,066,000. This 
is an increase of 8 per cent over the profits earned in 
the first quarter of last year. 

After Preferred dividends, the Common stock earned 
66 cents a share compared with 61 cents a share in the 
first quarter of 1953. 

Significant Developments In Television 

Significant developments in black-and-white and 
color television were listed by General SarnofT as follows: 

Television continues to expand as a medium of enter- 
tainment, news and education. As a new service in 
commerce and industry, it has become a major factor 
in the Nation's business. In RCA, television accounted 
for 50 per cent of the total volume of business over the 
past seven years and it reached 54 per cent in 1953- 

RCA's steadfast faith and confidence in the ultimate 
triumph of the compatible color television system which 
it advocated was completely vindicated when the Federal 
Communications Commission in December, 1953, ap- 
proved compatible signal standards for commercial 
operation of color television. 

RCA, intensifying efforts to bring this great advance 
to the American people, has helped and encouraged 
others in the industry to do likewise. Progress continues 
in development of the RCA tricolor tube, and RCA 
expects to improve its performance, increase the picture 
size and reduce the cost. Since February, tricolor tubes 



RADIO AGE 29 



have been produced at the rate of 2,000 a month. RCA 
has made and delivered four thousand 15-inch color 
television sets. 

By the end of this year, NBC will be colorcasting 
two programs a week from New York and a third from 
Burbank, California. In addition, NBC is planning a 
series of especially produced 90-minute shows, "Spec- 
taculars in Color," to begin in September. NBC expects 
to have 60 stations on its network equipped to transmit 
color programs by the end of 1954, covering 60 per 
cent of all homes in the United States. 

During this year and next, RCA believes the demand 
for color sets will exceed the supply. According to 
these estimates the industry should be able to sell about 
50,000 sets in 1954, several hundred thousand in 1955, 
and a progressively increasing number each year there- 
after, adding up to a total of approximately 10 million 
color sets in use five years from now. 

Government Orders 

RCA sales and services to the Government were 
reported at $55 million in the first quarter of 1954. 
This was approximately 24 per cent of RCA's total 
volume of business for the quarter. Shipments to the 
Government for the full year of 1954 are expected to 
be substantially more than last year. 

RCA international business continues to increase in 
volume and profits, said General Sarnoff, adding: 

"The results for the first quarter of 1954 exceeded 
those of the first quarter of last year and the outlook is 
bright for continued improvement. Overseas, RCA prod- 
ucts and engineering are helping to strengthen the 
security and economy of nations friendly to the United 
States. 

"We continue to be the leader in supplying tele- 
vision equipment in the world markets. For example, 
in Latin America RCA has supplied 60 per cent of all 
the TV broadcasting stations now in commercial 
operations." 

Home Appliances 

RCA's recent entry into the manufacture and sale 
of home appliances, by adding air conditioners and 
home ranges to the line, has proved to be a sound 
financial move for the Corporation as well as for dis- 
tributors and dealers. General Sarnoff reported. He said 
that this business was profitable in 1953, and that for 
the first quarter of 1954 RCA sales of these home 
appliances were 75 per cent greater rhan for the first 
quarter last year. 

In discussing research and invention. General Sarnoff 
said: 

"Since its earliest days in 1919, the Radio Corpora- 
tion of America has followed a continuing policy of 
carrying on scientific research and development. The 



inventions and improvements resulting from this work 
have been made available to competitors and to industry 
in general. This is done on a uniform basis through 
patent licenses that are liberal in scope and at very low 
royalty rates compared with the value of these inven- 
tions. The royalty rates are less than one per cent of the 
usual retail price. 

"RCA has previously granted to others several hun- 
dred patent licenses and the majority of them run to 
the end of 1954. By mutual agreement, these licenses 
can be extended for a further period of years. A sub- 
stantial number of these license agreements have been 
signed and extended for a period of five years beyond 
1954. In view of the great value to our licensees of 
their right to use the inventions covered by these 
licenses, we feel confident that by the end of this year 
substantially all of the remainder will also extend their 
agreements." 

There are few, if any, industries in America as 
highly competitive as the radio-television industry, 
General Sarnoff declared. 

"Three thousand radio broadcasting stations now are 
on the air, and by mid-year 400 television stations will 
be in operation," he said. 

"In many of the principal cities of our country 
already there are more radio and television stations than 
newspapers. For example. New York City has twenty- 
eight radio stations, seven television stations and only 
nine English-language daily newspapers. Chicago has 
twenty-six radio stations, six television stations and 
only four daily newspapers. Los Angeles has twenty-one 
radio stations, eight television stations and only five 
daily newspapers. Even in Washington, D. C. — the 
Capital of our Nation — there are only three daily news- 
papers, while there are sixteen radio stations and four 
television stations. 

"The number of manufacturing companies in our 
industry is also most impressive. Manufacturers of radio 
sets, 110; television sets, 75; electron tubes, 60; phono- 
graph records, 200. 

"There are about 2,000 wholesale distributors; 100,- 
000 retail dealers, and 20,000 service shops handling 
these products. 

"In this young and vigorously competitive industry 
approximately one million people are now employed. 

"Here is an outstanding example of how the Ameri- 
can system of free enterprise provides opportunity for 
small as well as big business to prosper and to grow. 
In this, as in other industries, the organizations most 
likely to succeed are those which have efficient manage- 
ment, maintain good relarions with their employees, 
operate on a sound financial basis, manufacture good 
quality products at the lowest cost, sell them at reason- 
able prices, and render the best service to the public." 



30 RADIO AGE 




open House 

at 

Princeton 



The staff of RCA Laboratories was fiost to some 4,000 
friends and neighbors at an open house at the David 
SarnofT Research Center in Princeton, N. J., on the eve- 
nings of May 5-7. These pictures present a gHmpse of some 
of the fifty different activities examined by the visitors. 



Dr. E. G. Linder explains transistor oscillator 
producing tone from light falling on silicon 
junction of type used in RCA Atomic Battery. 




Hl^ ri^BI 



John E. McCool, supervisor of glass room, 
demonstrates his art to an interested visitor. 



Young guest peers through microscope 
at an experimental RCA transistor. 



Robert Anderson shov/s device used tc 
chart path of electrons in a tube. 




Stanley Forgue explains cloud chamber for 
observing radioactive particle tracks. 



The magnetic memory is explained by 
its developer, Dr. J. A. Rajchman. 



Souvenir ashtrays were made for th< 
guests by William E. Carpenter. 



®K£U)Si 



brisk 




Happy Birthday 

An RCA broadcast tube tecently 
celebrated its fourteenth birthday with 
a normal day's work at radio station 
KPOJ in Portland, Oregon. The ven- 
erable tube, of the type known as a 
forced-air-cooled triode, was installed 
in KPOJ's' modulator circuit in March, 
1940, and is showing no signs of its 
advanced age, according to the station's 
chief engineer. Experts of the RCA 
Tube Division believe this is the long- 
est life recorded yet for a large power 
tube, with more than 91,000 operating 
hours — the equivalent of 25 months 
of continuous operation. 




Electronic Allergy fM 

A phototube described by its mak- 
ers as "allergic" to spots before its 
"eyes" has been added to its commer- 
cial line by the RCA Tube Division 
for a wide range of industrial applica- 
tions, including production-line inspec- 
tion of soft drinks, medical solutions 
and similar translucent liquids. The 
tube, previously produced only on a 
custom-order basis, reacts only to 
pulses of light caused by particles in 
motion, so the bottled liquids to be 
inspected are rotated swiftly and sud- 
denly stopped, causing the contents to 
swirl around in the bottle as they pass 
before the electronic "eye." Transpar- 
ent bits of foreign matter that may 
have been bottled inadvertently cause 
the phototube to react sufficiently to 
trigger an electronic reject system. 



High Eye 

The television camera has now been 
moved up to the ceiling to cover 
NBC's "Home" show from the end of 
a telescoping arm. Operated by remote 
control, the camera can be moved 
easily and quickly to any point on the 
circular set — the most elaborate and 
advanced yet constructed for a tele- 
vision program. The camera itself is 
mounted at the end of its boom by 
means of a so-called "cradle and yoke," 
converted from the device that holds 
the gun turrets of a B-29 bomber. The 
arrangement was conceived and its 
construction supervised by Sol Corn- 
berg, NBC's supervisor of plant facili- 
ties and development, who also de- 
signed the "Home" set itself. 

It Still Marches On 

The March of Time Film Library, 
considered by the trade to be the out- 
standing source of news and special 
events films unduplicated anywhere 
else, was taken over on May 1 for sales 
and distribution by the NBC Film Di- 
vision in the largest transaction for 
film footage in television history. The 
transaction swelled to over 30 million 
feet the amount of footage contained 
in the NBC Film Library, which al- 
ready ranked as the world's largest 
collection of stock footage shot exclu- 
sively for T"V. Addition of the March 
of Time film extends the historical 
range of the film library's inventory 
back to 1934. 




More ]uice 

The swing toward 12-volt auto- 
mobile batteries has encouraged RCA 
engineers to work up new two-way 
mobile radio equipment that can be 
converted easily to operate on either 
the larger battery or the 6-volt variety. 
The new RCA "Fleetfone" units, shown 
for the first time recently at the Dallas 
convention and show of the Petroleum 
Industry Electrical Association and the 
Petroleum Electrical Supply Associa- 
tion, can be ordered for either voltage 
and for use in adjacent channels with 
either 20 or 40 kilocycle separation. 
Whichever is specified, the equipment 
can be readily converted at any time 
these requirements change. 




Awards Department 

Honors descending upon the Na- 
tional Broadcasting Company during 
the second quarter of the year included 
top honors in the George Foster Pea- 
body Awards competition for 1953, 
and plaques and citations from "Vari- 
ety" for a number of NBC programs, 
divisions and affiliates. The Peabody 
awards went to the NBC Television 
Opera Theatre in the television music 
category; to the "Television Playhouse" 
and its producer, Fred Coe, as top tele- 
vision entertainment; to Imogene Coca, 
star of "Show of Shows," in entertain- 
ment, and to "Mr. Wizard" in the cate- 
gory of television programs for chil- 
dren and youth. Among the "Variety" 
awards were a special citation to the 
NBC Television Opera Theater and a 
"Variety" TV Film Award to the NBC 
Film Division for "sparking a drive 
that pumped life into the floundering 
economics of the TV-film industry." 



32 RADIO AGE 



3,000 islands . . . 
welded together by radio 




How 100 million people on 3,000 islands form a unified 
nation . . . with the aid of a vast radio network 



Indonesia, one of the newest and 
largest nations of the modern world, 
is a strong union of original art fonns 
and tremendous natural resources; 
of ancient cultures and alert progres- 
si\'e world responsibility. Its nearly 
100 million people live on a vast 
chain of 3,000 islands spanning 3,000 
miles across the subtropics. 

Early in the new nation's existence 
it became evident that such a far- 
flung structure required a commvmi- 
cations setup of unique scope and 
flexibility. 

Government and military leaders 
acted quickly . . . and soon a highly 
mobile fleet of RCA radio-equipped 
vehicles began operation. The iso- 
lated land areas acquired ears and 



\oices. The Indonesian amied forces 
equipped vehicles, planes and boats 
with radio for personnel training and 
national security. 

Not long afterwards a centralized 
radio broadcast network began a 
long-range program of education and 
enlightenment for all the people. 
Progress has been so rapid that today 
there is no spot in the huge republic 
beyond the reach of this alert and 
intelligent voice. 

Through the development and in- 
stallation phases of the huge project 



RCA field engineers worked with 
Indonesian authorities . . . teamwork 
which is now bearing fruit in the 
highly successful operation of the 
entire communications system. 

RCA products and services are avail- 
able in all world markets open to trade, 
through RCA distributors and associ- 
ated companies. The new book "Com- 
munications, Key to Progress" tells the 
inspiring story of radio at work in many 
countries. Simply write to RCA Inter- 
national Divi.'iion, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, 

New York, U.S.A. ••MarcasReglstradas" 




nCA INTERNATIONAL DIVISION 

RADIO CORPORATION of AMERICA 

RCA BUILDING 

30 ROCKCftLLtR PLAZA. NEW YORK, N. Y.. U. S.A. 

World leader in radio, first in recorded music, first in television 



I 






f 


1 

f 


1 


^ 


•sss^ 




■ 


^ 


^^^^m\'^ j^^HH^glpP 


^^^iii^^ 



,>* 



Celebrating the 5th birthday of "45 Victroliis" ami records. 



The 5— -AnTiiversar;>^of 45 
brings mair^liappy returns to yoii ! 



Crowning achievement of the "45" 
system is the Extended Play Record 
which brings you great music for 
40% less than you used to pay 

Just 5 years ago RCA Victor intro- 
duced the "45" RPM system and gave 
you a reward of new listening pleasure. 

With the touch of a button you could 
sit back and enjoy nearly two hours of 
your favorite music. There were no 
changes to make ... no bulky albums 
to tote and store . . . and you were re- 
warded with music that was richer. 



truer— with all the brilliance of "live" 
performance. 

Moreover, the "45" became the onh/ 
system that played every kind of re- 
corded music — and played them all 
automaticallv, selectively. 

Today, with the new RCA Victor 45 
Extended Play records, vou have all 
these advances — plus one happy finan- 
cial return: more music for less moneij. 

These extraordinary little records 
bring you the same amount of great 
music as two 12" old-style records, yet 



cost little more than half as much. 

RCA's continuing program of re- 
search in other fields of home entertain- 
ment—radio, television, tape-recording, 
and liigh fidelity, brings happy returns 
for millions of Americans. 

RCA pioneered and developed 
compatible color television 




Radio Corporation of America 

}\ orld leader in radio— first in tetpi-ision — first in recorded niiisir 




RAD O 



RESEARCH • MANUFACTURING • COMMUNICATIONS • BROADCASTING • TELEVISION 



OCTOBER 1954 




KMiaB«<l.'A'^Ba9BAtlK«lli; 




Another of the intcrnaiinmil roiniiuinications projects 
successfully engineered by RCA International Division 



How a radio-directed engineering marvel provided "happy motoring" 
for the citizens of Bogota, Colombia . . . 8,600 feet up in the Andes 



In spite of government and industry 
efforts to make gasoline available in 
Bogota, Colombia, often it was 
scarce. Deliveries by road and railway 
were often interrupted by flash floods 
along the rugged routes climbing to 
the mile-and-a-half-high capital. 

The Department of Cundinamarca, 
the State in which the City of Bogota 
is located, had an idea — a direct 150- 
kilometer pipeline from the oil tank 
farm, across jungle and stream, up 
the great Andean walls to Bogota. A 
magnificent engineering concept, it 
presented great obstacles. But it 
was done — through co-operation of 
petroleum, construction and radio 
organizations. 

BCA radio is the nerve system of 



this engineering triumph. The VHF- 
FM radio relay system provides in- 
stant 2-way voice and Teletype com- 
munication between the tank farm 
and Bogota, and intermediate points. 

l^CA International Division's world- 
wide organization functioned here as 
it does on similar assignments. RCA 
engineers, working with Williams 
Brothers Corp., international builders, 
designed and supervised the radio 
installations for "oil well in the skv." 

It's happy motoring now in Bogota. 
Oil, gasoline and kerosene flow swiftly , 

World leader in radio, first in 



economically, and surely up the 
ridges, dispatched by dependable 
RCA radio . . . the aid of industry and 
government, the friend of the family 
everywhere. 

RCA products and services are 
avaihdjle in all world markets open to 
trade, through RCA distributors and 
associated companies. The neiv book 
'"Communications, Key to Progress" 
tells the inspiring story of radio at 
work in many countries. Simply write 
to RCA International Division, 30 
Rockefeller Plaza, N. Y., U.S.A. 

recorded music, first in television 




® RCA INTCRNATIONAL DIVISION 

RADIO CORPORATION of AMERICA 

RCA BUIIDINO 

30 ROCKtftlltR HAZA. NtW YORK, N.Y., U.S.A. 



VOLUME 13 NUMBER 4 



EARCH • MANUFACTURING • COMMUNil 
BROADCASTING •TELEVISION 



OCTOBER 1954 



CONTENTS 




COVER 

Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway, 
Army Chief of Staff, tries out 
RCA combat TV camera in 
"command post of future" 
with Brig. Gen. David Sarnoff, 
Chairman of the Board of 
RCA (left) and Maj. Gen. 
George I. Back, Chief Signal 
Officer. (Story on p. 15) 



NOTICE 



Whe 


n requesMn 


g a change in 


moiling 


odd 


ess please 


include the code letters 


and 


numbers y 


vhich appear w 


ith the 


slen 


illed addr 


ess on Ihe en 


velope. 


Rod/ 


o Age is published quarterty fay 


Ihe 


)eporfmen 


of Information 


, Rodio 


Corf 


oration o 


America, 30 


Rocte 


/e//e 


r P/020, N 


5w York 20, N 


r. 






Printed in 


USA. 



Poge 

RCA Demonstrates Three Major Advances in Color TV ... . 3 

Aspects of Broadcasting, Present and Future 6 

V/orld's Largest TV Studio Opened by NBC for Color 8 

Folsom Predicts $12 Billion Electronic Sales in '55 10 

Advances in High Fidelity Recording 12 

by Emanuel Sacks 

Radar for Canada's Navy 14 

by Bruce Lanskail 

Combat Television 15 

RCA Elects Director, Promotes 4 Executives 19 

RCA in Africa 20 

by 6. F. Moore, Jr. 

UHF Booster Station Tested at Vicksburg 22 

Historic Radio Tower Razed at Chatham 23 

TV Eye for Commerce and Industry 24 

by M. S. Klinedinsf 

Dr. Zworykin Elected Honorary Vice-President of RCA 27 

RCA Service Company Consumer Service 28 

by D. H. Kunsman 

News in Brief 31 




RADIO CORPORATION OF AMERICA 

RCA Building, New York 20, N.Y. 



DAVID SARNOFF, Chairivan of the Board 
JOHN Q. CANNON, Secretary 



FRANK M. FOLSOM, PresiVenf 
ERNEST B. GORIN, Treaiurer 




The new RCA 21 -inch simplified color TV receiver. 



RCA Demonstrates Three Major 
Advances in Color TV 



J_ HREE new major developments in color television 
were demonstrated by the Radio Corporation of Amer- 
ica on September 15 at Princeton, N. J., opening the 
way to early mass production of color television sets 
at costs within the reach of the consuming public. 

Described as milestones in the march toward com- 
mercial color television, the three new developments 
were: 

1. A new 21-inch RCA color picture tube with 250 
square inches of viewing area — 22^0 more than any 
other color tube yet produced; 

2. A magnetic field equalizer called the "Color 
Equalizer." This is a significant new RCA invention, 
not previously announced, which guarantees improved 
color set performance and makes possible a reduction 
in manufacturing costs; 

3. A new, simplified color television receiver, which 
reduces circuitry by one-third and permits a substantial 
reduction in production costs. 

Each of these developments represents "years of 
scientific and engineering endeavor telescoped into a 
memorable few months," according to E. C. Anderson, 
Executive Vice-President, RCA Commercial Depart- 
ment, in remarks at the demonstration, held at the 
David SarnoflF Research Center of RCA. 

RCA Timetable for Production of Tubes and Sets 

"The RCA timetable," Mr. Anderson continued, 
"calls for industry sampling of the 21 -inch color tube 
starting November 1, and for the appearance in the 
market of our first 21 -inch color sets before the end of 
this year, with production in quantity by early 1955. 

"While we have not yet established a suggested 
retail price for our 21-inch color set, I can tell you, 
today, that it will be between $800 and $900." 

At a special press showing, which preceded demon- 
strations for representatives of virtually the entire tele- 
vision manufacturing industry. Dr. Elmer W. Enpstrom, 
Executive Vice-President, RCA Research and Engineer- 
ing, said: 

"Again, RCA is following the policy of sharing 
with its competitors its advances in color television so 
as to encourage early production of improved equip- 
ment on the widest scale." 

Reporting on plans for color broadcasting, Robert 
W. Sarnoff, Executive Vice-President of the National 



Broadcasting Company, said that "provision of color 
programming in volume, on a national basis . . . will 
create audience excitement beyond anything else avail- 
able on the air. NBC's contributions to color develop- 
ment during this past year have established for it a 
position of leadership in the field. Our color operation 
during the coming year will advance that position fur- 
ther, and the entire industry will benefit from it." 

Mr. Anderson, in reviewing RCA progress in color 
television, said: 

"When RCA first tackled color television, we were 
aware of the importance of creating an entire system, 
not just isolated elements of one. A color service, as 
we saw it, required every part to mesh smoothly with 
the others. As a result, we moved ahead simultaneously 
in the broadcasting, the picture tube, the receiving set, 
and the circuitry fields. Now, we are ready to demon- 
strate, as well as to discuss, these advances. 

The 2 1 -Inch Color Tube 

"The 21-inch tube, which holds the spotlight today, 
was — only 8 short months ago — in our development 
laboratories. But the progress we had made with it 
was so good, that we determined not to go ahead with 
our 19-inch tube. We concentrated our efforts on a 
21 -inch color tube — the preferred size — • without 
introducing any intermediate smaller sizes. 

"This advance, from the first commercial color tube 
of the 15-inch size to the preferred tube of the 21-inch 
size, required only a few months; but they have been 
months crowded with sustained effort and achievement. 
In black-and-white television, a similar evolution took 
several years. 

"It is our opinion that the 21 -inch color tube you 
are seeing today is a practical large-screen color tele- 
vision tube that enables immediate commercial produc- 
tion. This is the tube upon which RCA is planning its 
own commercial program, and we are going forward 
with full confidence. We expect to produce and sell 
this tube at a price that should advance the sale of color 
receivers to the public. 

Receiver Circuitry Is Simplified 

"We have also given much attention to reducing the 
cost and increasing the stability of color receiver cir- 



RADIO AGE 3 




RCA's new 21-inch color TV tube is shown here in comparison with the earlier 15-inch color tube introduced by RCA 
in its first commercially-produced color television sets. 



cuitry and components. Approximately a one-third re- 
duction in receiver circuitry has been achieved, without 
any loss of performance. Substantial cost savings are 
inherent in the results of this work. 

"This simplified circuitry has been used to construct 
two of the receivers demonstrated to you today. The 
other two receivers contain the 19-inch chassis previ- 
ously described to you and modified to work with the 
21 -inch tube. 

"While the simplified circuit receiver uses 1 1 tubes 
less than the modified receiver, nevertheless, their per- 
formance is the same." 

Dr. Engstrom said that RCA's three new develop- 
ments — the 21 -inch color tube, the "Color Equalizer," 
and the new simplified receiver — have advanced large- 
screen color television to the practical stage of quantity 
production. 

New RCA "Color Equalizer" 

Regarding RCA's new "Color Equalizer," Dr. Eng- 
strom pointed out that, previously, the performance of 
color rubes was affected by magnetic fields such as the 
earth's field or local sources. 

"To minimize such disturbances," Dr. Engstrom 
said, "tubes have been protected up to now with a 
conical magnetic shield which was effective in shielding 
the small end of the tube cone, but relatively less effec- 
tive near the tube face. We have also used a rim coil 



in the form of a loop placed near the plane of the 
phosphor plate, in addition to the magnetic shield. 

"Our new Color Equalizer' performs the function 
of the rim coil, but unlike the rim coil, its effects may 
be controlled at various points around the circumfer- 
ence of the color tube face. It makes unnecessary eithet 
a magnetic shield or the rim coil. The net result is a 
better, more positive effect and a reduction in cost ot 
the receiver. 

Will Save Consumer At Least $20 

"The magnetic shield has been an item of relatively 
high cost in a color receiver even though we have car- 
ried on an active cost reduction development. We now 
propose to use the new RCA 'Color Equalizer' in place 
of the magnetic shield and the rim coil formerly used. 
By doing so a saving will be effected in the cost of 
manufacturing our new 21 -inch color receiver. In indi- 
cating this saving we are comparing the use of the 
lowest cost magnetic shield we have been able to de- 
velop for our 19-inch glass envelope color tube together 
with a rim coil, and the "Color Equalizer' for use with 
our 21 -inch metal envelope color tube. The saving nn 
this item alone represents a saving to the consumer of 
at least $20." 

In commenting on RCA's new 21 -inch color picture 
tube. Dr. Engstrom said that it "provides excellent 



4 RADIO AGE 




Rear view of the new RCA 21 -inch simplified color TV 
set shows how circuitry has been reduced. 



color; with size, picture brightness, picture quality and 
contrast comparable to present popular black-and-white 
tubes. There are several important new features em- 
bodied in this tube which contribute to high perform- 
ance, lower cost and ease of production." 

Among the features of the new tube listed by Dr 
Engstrom were: 1) considerably lighter weight; 2) a 
new and shorter electron gun and a wider deflection 
angle, making for more compact color sets; and 3 ) an 
improved shadow mask and mounting system that en- 
sure an excellent picture out to the edges of the tube 
and a brightness comparable to black-and-white. 

"We believe that the simplified construction of this 
21 -inch tube," Dr. Engstrom continued, "will allow it to 
be manufactured at reasonable cost in large quantities." 

New RCA Color Receiver Has 28 Tubes 

In describing the development of RCA's new, sim- 
plified color receiver. Dr. Engstrom said: 

"This new receiver is the result of our experience 
with the 15-inch RCA color set, and of lengthy trial by 
our engineers of many forms of simplified circuitry. 
This receiver has reduced by one-third the circuitry re- 
quired for color television sets. It employs 28 tubes 
counting the picture tube and draws less than 300 watts 
from the power line. It is interesting to note that 
RCA's original model 630TS — the first larae-scale 



black-and-white production receiver produced by RCA 
— used 30 tubes and drew about 300 watts. 

'Our simplified receiver covers all TV channels — 
botli UHF and VHF — and there is more than ample 
reserve capacity in all circuits to accommodate low limit 
tubes and low line voltage." 

NBC's Color Pro^rciiii Plans 

Mr. Sarnoff, in reviewing NBC's color program 
plans, said that "nobody can doubt" that color television 
will be the major broadcast medium of the future. 

"At NBC, we have just concluded our Introductory 
Year of color broadcasting," Mr. SArnoff continued. 
"During this past year, we have produced and broad- 
cast over 50 diflferent programs in color. About 90% 
of our production staff has had on-the-job color training 
in connection with these shows. As a result, we are now 
opening the commercial phase of color broadcasting. 
Color has become an integrated part of our regular 
operation. 

"A number of individual stations throughout the 
country have already equipped themselves to originate 
color programs locally and several more are about to do 
so. Local origination of color programming will add a 
further stimulus to the growth of color circulation in 
the areas served by these stations. 

"By January 1, we expect that at least 82 stations 
on the NBC network will be color inter-connected and 
equipped to transmit network programs in color. At 
that time, about KT^r of all television families in the 
country will be within range of the NBC color service. 

'"With a national color circulation potential covering 
ST^r of the present television sets, with high appeal 
NBC color programs scheduled on a regular basis — 
plus the color programming of other organizations and 
with 21 -inch color sets on the way — with all these 
new developments — the stage is set for rapid growth 
in the color medium during the coming year — and for 
accelerated growth in the following years. 

"I believe that a year from now, we will be looking 
back on a record of progress that will surpass present 
predictions. That has been the experience of our in- 
dustry in the past — and we believe it holds true for 
the future." 

The 15-minute color program seen during the dem- 
onstration was transmitted via microwave relay to the 
David Sarnoff Research Center from NBC's Colonial 
Theatre color studio in New York. 

Produced by Barry Wood, NBC Executive Producer 
in Charee of Color Coordination, the telecast featured 
Andre Eglevsky and Diane Adams in a ballet selection, 
singer Connie Russell in two vocal numbers, and an 
excerpt from the color film "The African Queen." 



RAD/O AGE 5 



Aspects of Broadcasting, Present and Future 

Sarnoff, at NBC TV Affiliates Meeting, Discusses Color TV, Radio 
Networks, Future TV Sets, and Editorializing by Networks 



Brig. General David Sarnoff, Chairman of the Boards 
of RCA and the National Broadcasting Company, 
addressed the NBC Television Affiliates Meeting in 
Chicago on August 31- Following are excerpts from his 
remarks: 

Color Television 

At the present time we are passing through a very 
interesting and important transition. It is the transition 
that marks the diflference between publicity and per- 
formance. As we are now entering the area of perform- 
ance, I think you need no advice from me on how to 
evaluate claims and predictions made by almost everyone 
in this business. And if you want to include us, that is 
all right, too. Just keep your eye on performance, and 
don't pay to much attention to publicity. 

Over the past two years we have all heard of color 
tubes that were being produced at such a rapid rate 
that the facilities were just inadequate to catch up with 
the orders. Yet, in some instances those claims, repeated 
frequently, have been so unfounded that we were noi 
able to get even a sample of such tubes. 

Again, we have heard of startling developments 
that were just around the corner. They would be out 
tomorrow; but tomorrow has come and gone, without 
a sign of such developments. 

It is not necessary to argue one's case if one nas a 
color tube, a color set, and a color program. All you 
have to do — all anybody has to do from here on — is 
just watch the performance of the tube. Watch the 
performance of the set. 'Watch the quality of the pro- 
gram. Then you will know as much as anybody in the 
manufacturing or broadcasting business knows — and 1 
suspect a little bit more than some of the top execu- 
tives in the broadcasting and manufacturing business 
know. . . . 

Radio Networks 

I have had the thought for some time that there 
was only one direction, incomewise, for radio networks 
to go, and that is down instead of up. I was challenged 
in that view, and I had hoped right along that I might 
be wrong. I would rather be proved wrong than right 
in that one. 

But what are the facts today? Every now and again 
you hear about some national advertiser canceling his 
programs on radio networks, daytime as well as night- 



time. If a business keeps going down, it is very difficult 
to arrest the decline. And it is not so easy to readjust 
your appetite to the dwindling victuals on your plate. 
We do have this advantage in the NBC. We have 
been dieting for the last few years on the radio network, 
and we have slenderized. Our figures are trimmed in 
that branch of the business. While some of our radio 
network competitors have been more fortunate in the 
last two or three years, they have still to learn how 
to get along on the reduced rations of a radio network 
diet. I hope that the rate of their radio decline will not 
be so violent or rapid as to interfere with the health 
of their remaining organisms. 

Doing Well Throt4gh Local Business 

While radio network revenue declines, some inde- 
pendent radio stations as well as affiliated stations have 
been doing very well. They have been doing well 
through local business, through spot business, through 
all the names that you gentlemen invent from day to 
day that even I can't keep up with — station breaks 
and other kinds of breaks. But that hasn't helped the 
radio network to grow and remain healthy. It may be 
that in radio, perhaps you can get along fairly well 
without a network because of the recorded programs 
and revenue you derive from local and other sources. 

If this be so, and if the radio network declines to 
a point where it no longer has sufficient energy to 
sustain its body, you know what happens under those 
conditions. If you think that a radio station, particularly 
an important radio station in an important center, 
can remain prosperous regardless of whether it has a 
national network or not, if you believe that, then, of 
course, you will have no interest in the continued life 
of a radio network. 

On the other hand, if present radio networks should 
cease to exist, I believe you would find that the impor- 
tance of a radio network as an instrument of national 
service and national defense, would demand such a 
service in one form or another. In times of national 
emergency or national disaster, it is of the utmost 
importance to our national defense and national security 
that we be able to make instantaneous contact with all 
of the people of our nation, wherever they may be, 
in m.illions of automobiles or elsewhere. This is especially 
vital in the atomic age in which we live. 



6 RAD/O AGE 



1 don't say that radio networks must die. Every 
effort is being made and will continue to be made to 
find new patterns, new selling arrangements and new 
types of programs that may arrest the declining revenues. 
It may yet be possible to eke out a poor existence for 
radio networks — but I don't know. 

New Forms of Competition 

Let me also raise a word of caution about the 
future of T'V networks. Here too, new forms of com- 
petition are under way and anything that adversely 
affects the healthy and profitable development of a TV 
network, will also affect the welfare of a T'V station 
affiliated with it. The magnetic tape recorder is on 
the way. I expect by the end of this year the N.itional 
Broadcasting Company will be in a position to experi- 
ment with it in actual service. This new development 
is coming along and reaching the commercial stage. 
The TV tape recorder will furnish a type of network 
competition that m.iy prove lo be of gre.it importance. 

I recognize the difference between TV networks and 
radio networks, the difference in complexity and in 
programming. I recognize the difference between live 
programming and recorded programming, but in this 
fast moving art and industry, complacency is dangerous. 

It may be true that some live programs simply 
cannot be substituted by recordings. But is is a question 
of percentages. The revenue remaining to the TV net- 
work must be sufficient to support an organization tha" 
must make heavy capital and other commitment) of a 
long term nature. All these benefit the afliliated stations 
as well as the network. Their future is interdependent. 

Those are problems, gentlemen, that I suggest for 
your own earnest and serious consideration. . . . 

Tubeless Television Sets 

I believe that at some time in the future — I will 
hazard a guess and say five years from now — no tubes 
will be needed in a television set — not even the picture 
tube. Then all the debates about one-gun and three-gun 
tubes, rectangular and round, glass and metal, shadow- 
mask and focus-mask, and other kinds of masks, will 
belong to the language of the past. 

By Electro-Luminescence we shall have a screen on 
the wall of whatever size you wish to make it — small 
or large — and that screen will be connected directly 
by a small cable, with a little television box — about 
the size of an average cigar box that can be placed 
anywhere in the room. No cabinet will be requ'red; 
and if desired, screens can be placed in every room 
of the house. 

The television box will contain the tuning and 
volume controls, and the station selector. It will also 
have a remote control knob enabling one to make the 



picture of any desired size; to have it either in black- 
and-white or in color; and to make it brighter or dimmer. 
All these features will be easily adjustable by the viewer, 
to suit his individual taste. 

Transistors will replace the present small tubes, and 
.in electro-luminescent screen will take the place of the 
present cathode-ray tube. . . . 

Editorializing by Networks 

1 believe that radio and television should have the 
same rights as the press. But when that request for 
permission is confused with the broader subject of 
editorializing by networks, when that proper request in 
a specific case is merged with a general principle, and 
is labeled "editorial," it creates unnecessary confusion 
and raises many questions to which there are no clear 
answers at this time. 

What is a network editorial.-' Is an editorial only an 
editorial when it talks about the interest of the network, 
or is an editorial an editorial when it talks about any 
public question that may be controversial and vit.d.-' If 
it be the latter — and I assume it must be included in 
the definition — then I want to distinguish between 
the right of a network to editorialize, which I think it 
should have, and the execution of that right, which is 
a matter of policy, of wisdom, of importance and cir- 
cumstances at a particular time. A policeman should 
certainly have the right to carry a loaded pistol, but the 
execution, the firing of that pistol, is quite another 
matter as distinguished from his right to carry it. 

Special Circumstances Must be Considered 
If a network is to editorialize only when its own 
interests are involved, then I think the special circum- 
stances of the case must be considered. It is not speak- 
ing in its own interests only when it raises its voice in 
protection of the freedom of broadcasting. It is serving 
the public's interest as well. But if it is editorializing 
on other public questions or on partisan or political 
subjects, it is quite a different matter. 

It is not enough to say that it will give "the other 
side " an opportunity to answer because the question is: 
what is the other side? How many sides are there to 
an important controversy.' 'When I have an argument 
with my wife, I think there can be only one side to that 
argument. But when she answers me, she seems to have 
many sides to her reply, and some I never thought about 
before! There isn't any such thing as just one side or 
one answer to a controversy. 

And who is to select the exponent of the other side? 
And how often will that right to editorialize be exer- 
cised by a network? 'Will it be a daily editorial as in a 
newspaper? And if so, is it practical to give "the other 
(Continued on page 32) 



RADIO AGE 7 




Mayor Robert F. Wagner of New York cuts the tape to open NBC's new color TV studio in Brooklyn. Assisting ore 
Betty Hutton and, at right, NBC President Sylvester L. Weaver, Jr., and Robert W. Sarnoff, Executive Vice President. 



World's Largest TV Studio Opened by NBC for Color 



A 



ONE-TIME motion picture studio in Brooklyn, 
N.Y., has reopened for business as the world's largest 
and most moderen television studio, completely equipped 
for programming for the new era of color. 

The studio is the National Broadcasting Company's 
new color production center, acquired from Warner 
Brothers and converted at a cost of S.t.500,000 to 
handle NBC's unprecedented series of thirty-three 
"spectaculars" — ninety-minute color programs of a 
scope never before presented on a regular basis. 

Formal dedication of the vast studio took place on 
September 9, when Mayor Robert F. 'Wagner of New 
York cut the ceremonial ribbon and described the new 
center as "a fine new showcase for the best New York 
has to offer in the theatre arts." Participating with 
Mayor "Wagner in the ceremony were Sylvester L. 
"Weaver, Jr., President of NBC, Robert W. Sarnoff. 
NBC's Executive "Vice-President, and actress Betty Hut- 
ton, who starred on September 12 in the first of the 
new "spectaculars. " 

The opening of the Brooklyn production center 
widens further the margin of NBC leadership in color 
programming facilities. These already include the 
Colonial Theatre in New York, the world's first fully- 
equipped studio for compatible color; Studio 3-H in 



Radio City, used for smaller productions, commercials, 
and research in staging, lighting, costuming and make- 
up; a mobile color unit, the only one of its kind in 
existence, used for outdoor coverage of special events 
remote from studios, and RCA three "Vidicon multiple 
film projectors capable of handling 35- and 16-milli- 
meter color film and slides. By the end of the year, the 
present facilities will be augmented by another large 
studio being equipped by NBC in Burbank, Calif., to 
tap the reservoir of Hollywood talent for "spectaculars" 
and other color programs. 

Number of Unique Features 

Several unique features have been built by NBC into 
the huge Brooklyn center, among them the most elabo- 
rate lighting system in the industry — 900 circuits with 
a capacity of 960,000 watts, or enough to light a com- 
munity of 3,000 homes. 

The lighting is arranged in a grid system whose 
components can be raised or lowered by electric hoists 
controlled remotely from a lighting "bridge." There are 
126 such hoists, capable of handling 75,000 pounds of 
lighting equipment. This push-button hoist arrange- 
ment was developed by NBC engineers. It permits indi- 
vidual height adjustment of 63 groups of lights and the 
pre-setting of heights for 10 scenes. 



8 rad;o age 



At the heart of the system is a newly-perfected 
"Lumi-Tron" lighting board, a complex arrangement of 
some 2,000 controls — twice the maximum of any 
lighting board previously used in television program- 
ming. 

To convert the lighting system for color, the light 
capacity had to be increased seven and one-half times, 
which in turn meant a heavy reinforcement of the over- 
head girders to handle the substantially greater weight. 

Large-Screen Projector 

For the studio audience of 360, the center has been 
equipped with a large-screen color projector, newly 
developed by RCA, which permits viewing of the per- 
formance on a movie-size 15-by-20-foot screen. The 
audience is accommodated in a new type of demount- 
able seating arrangement. 

In addition to the main studio, 178 feet long and 
88 feet wide, a smaller studio will be built in what is 
now a rehearsal hall to one side. The smaller studio, 
full-sized by usual standards, will be used for commer- 
cials, and it will be able to handle products as large as 
automobiles, which can be wheeled in through large 
doors leading in from the street. 

The center also includes a carpentry shop that can 
build complete sets for any major production. Other 
facilities include an artists' lounge, remodelled dressing 
rooms, makeup rooms and storage space for props and 
equipment. A Quonset hut measuring 40 by 60 feet also 
is being built as additional storage space. 

KCA Color Caravan 

As NBC opened its new home for color program- 
ming in Brooklyn, RCA started a nation-wide tour with 



a new "color television caravan" equipped to produce 
on-the-spot programs to introduce color TV to audiences 
at fairs, expositions and other large public gatherings. 

The unit made its public debut on September 25 
at the Mid-South Fair in Memphis, Tennessee. After its 
Memphis stand, it prepared for an extensive tour that 
will involve appearances at other expositions and at 
special showings for conventions, department stores, and 
business and service organizations. 

In employing a mobile unit to promote the nation- 
wide introduction of color, RCA is following the prec- 
edent set in 1947, when another RCA caravan toured 
more than 50,000 miles over the country introducing 
black-and-white television. 

The heart of the RCA color caravan is a specially- 
designed 32-foot trailer containing a complete control 
room and technical equipment to originate any type of 
program, either "live" or film. The equipment includes 
a nimiber of RCA Victor color TV receivers, two RCA 
color cameras, a color film-scanner and microwave ap- 
paratus. Like the new NBC studio in Brooklyn, the unit 
has been equipped also with the new RCA color TV 
projector capable of showing color programs on a 
15-by-20-foot screen. 

For the most part, the caravan will originate pro- 
grams to be carried over a closed circuit to its receivers 
via cable. However, its equipment permits the feeding 
of programs to commercial television broadcasting sta- 
tions or to a network whenever the occasion may re- 
quire it. 

A complete staff of engineers, technicians and pro- 
gram production experts has been assigned to the unit, 
which is under the supervision of Richard H. Hooper. 
Manager of RCA Shows and Exhibits, with headquarters 
in Camden, N. J. 



At the "Lumi-Tron" lighting board, 2,000 lighting con- 
trols are within reach of the technician. 



Vf( fff et«\ * f iit itfiiiif *t f * 



TV's most elaborate lighting system hangs over the vast 
studio, formerly a film sound stage. 







Folsom Predicts . . . 

$12 Billion Electronic Sales in '55 



vJales approaching twelve billion dollars annually 
for the electronics industry by 1957 were forecast 
by Frank M. Folsom, President of RCA, in a talk 
on September 23 in Chicago discussing the outlook of 
color television and other promising components of 
what he described as an "utterly amazing industry." 

Mr. Folsom, addressing a meeting of the Investment 
Analysts Society of Chicago, reported on the results of 
a survey covering sales and estimated sales of elec- 
tronic products over a twelve-year period beginning 
in the postwar year of 1946. 

"Total annual sales of the electronics industry," he 
said, "grew from $1.6 billion in 1946 to $8.4 billion 
in 1953. Further growth is projected, as follows — 1954, 
$8.8 billion; 1955, $9.5 billion; 1956, $10.9 billion; 
1957, $11.8 billion." 

The domain of electronics is so vast and so rapid 
is its rate of development that it seems hard to believe 
that eight years ago the industry was only one-fifth its 
present size, Mr. Folsom declared, adding: 

"In those eight years, electronics has assumed a 
stature that commands high respect in all branches of 
finance, trade and industry. It is the vital factor in all 
forms of modern communications; all modern means 
of mass entertainment depend upon it — radio, tele- 
vision, talking movies, tape sound systems, and phono- 
graph recording and reproduction; modern transporta- 
tion must have its controls and communications; the 
military uses it in myriad ways; and even atomic de- 
vices depend on it." 

Study Covers Principal Components 

Mr. Folsom said that the study of the industry took 
into consideration the principal components, as follows: 

Home and Portable Radios — This field once 
represented the chief source of revenue in our 
business. Today, because of television and chang- 
ing habits of the people, sales are declining gradu- 
ally — from a postwar peak of $600 million in 1947 
to an estimated $109 million in 1956. 

Auto Radios — Relatively stable sales somewhat in 
excess of SlOO million annually. 




Frank M. Folsom, center. President of RCA, chats with 
Fred J. Stock, President of the New York Board of Trade, 
and Henry L. Lambert, Chairman of the Mercantile Sec- 
tion of the board, at meeting addressed by Mr. Folsom 
in New York last month. 

Black-and-W bite Television — Postwar growth 
was spectacular, with sales increasing from $1 
million in 1946 to $1.4 billion in 1950. Sales in 
1953 totaled $1.2 billion, and nearly $1 billion is 
expected in 1954. A drop to $388 million is pro- 
jected by 1957, due to the shifting of the mass 
market from black-and-white TV to color. 

Color Television — Following commercial introduc- 
tion in 1954, increased volume is expected to more 
than offset reduced sales of black-and-white tele- 
vision, reaching $264 million in 1955, $767 million 
in 1956, and $952 million in 1957. This would 
mean a total of nearly $2 billion (at factory 
prices) during color television's first three years. 

Repair Parts (chiefly renewal tubes) — Steady 
growth is expected to continue in support of in- 
creased receivers in service. Volume amounted to 
$217 million in 1953, and is estimated at $454 
million by 1957. 

Servicing and Installation — This important ele- 
ment has grown from $145 million to 1946 to 



?0 RAD/O AGE 



$1.4 billion in 1953- Continued growth to $2.7 
billion by 1957 is indicated. 

Industrial and Commercial Eqtdipment — Steady 
growth is also indicated here, from S50 million in 
1946 to $267 million in 1953, and a projection of 
$520 million by 1957. 

Government Electronics Expenditures — Volume 
totaled $2.5 billion in 1953 (30% of total elec- 
tronics industry sales). During the four years 1954- 
1957, government electronics expenditures are 
estimated at $2.7 to $2.8 billion annually. 

Electricity — Total electricity costs to operate TV 
and radio instruments are estimated at $49 million 
in 1946, $354 million in 1953 and $634 million 
in 1957. 

Broadcasting atul Communications — Total reve- 
nues in 1946 were $404 million, or 25% of the 
total sales by the electronics industry. Revenues 
increased to $1.1 billion in 1953. By 1957, total 
revenues of $1.5 billion are estimated. Nearly all of 
this growth is due to TV broadcasting revenue, with 
radio and communications revenues showing only 
modest gains. 

Prospects for Color TV Growth 

Mr. Folsom said that he looked upon color tele- 
vision both as a technical marvel and one of the most 
significant advances in the history of electronics, and 
added: 

"Its prospects are brighter than the prospects oi 
black-and-white television were eight years ago. We 
will see a day when virtually every American home will 
have a color TV set. 

"During the rest of this year and next year, it is 
estimated that more than 350,000 color sets will be 
produced and sold by the industry. 

"During 1956, unit sales should reach 1,780,000; 
during 1957, 3,000,000; in 1958, about 5,000,000. 

"These annual sales add up to the very satisfactory 
estimate of more than 10,000,000 color sets in American 
homes by 1959. ' 

Commenting on RCA's expansion and improvement 
of its manufacturing facilities, Mr. Folsom told the 
Chicago group: 

"With the advent of color television — to say 
nothing of a long list of other new electronic products 
and services, including industrial television, microwave 
radio relay systems, theatre television, new types of 
radar, electronic computers and transistors — RCA plant 
facilities are undergoing the required expansion and 
modifications. 



"Our expenditure on facilities this year alone is 
expected to be in excess of $30 million. This will bring 
RCA's outlay on plant expansion and improvement to 
more than $200 million since 1946." 

History will record 1954 as a good year for the 
radio-television and electronics industry, according to 
Mr. Folsom. He declared: 

"Business has been much better during the first 9 
months than was generally anticipated earlier in the year. 

"As you know, sales of products and services of the 
Radio Corporation of America and subsidiaries attained 
an all-time record volume of $444,369,000 during the 
first six months of 1954. After Federal Taxes, our net 
profit for the half year amounted to $19,268,000, an 
increase of $1,083,000, or 6% over the 1953 period. 
During July and August our business volume has been 
better than 5% over the same months of 1953. We 
foresee excellent sales prospects for RCA and the indus- 
try as a whole during the remainder of the year. 

"Beyond this period, as I have stated, the outlook is 
equally bright for the electronics business. We are far 
from realizing the full potentialities of this remarkable 
industry, and RCA is well equipped to meet the chal- 
lenges and the opportunities ahead. RCA can be counted 
upon to continue its pioneering and leadership, in re- 
search and engineering, manufacturing and broadcasting. 
We have complete confidence in the future of electronics 
as a science, art and industry." 

Talks to New York Group 

In a talk given earlier before the Mercantile Section 
of the New York Board of Trade in New York, Mr. 
Folsom pointed out that from the standpoint of eco- 
nomic gain, the production of color receivers will require 
"a mountain of raw materials." 

"Our experts in such matters have informed me," 
he said, "that 10,000,000 color sets would use more than 
350,000 tons of wood, 175,000 tons of steel, 5,000 tons 
of brass, 3,500 tons of solder, 3,000 tons of copper, 2,500 
tons of zinc, and enough glass, plastics and miscellaneous 
materials to bring the total well over 1,000,000 tons — 
or two billion pounds." 

NBC Announces Promotions 

The election of three new vice-presidents of the 
National Broadcasting Company was recently announced 
by Sylvester L. Weaver, Jr., President of NBC. Ken- 
neth W. Bilby was named Vice-President for Public 
Relations; Davidson Taylor was named Vice-President 
in Charge of Public Affairs, and Richard A. R. Pinkham 
was named Vice-President in Charge of Participating 
Programs Department. 



RADIO AGE n 



Hill Reiskind, right, manager of the engineering division at the RCA Victor Indianapolis plant, points out the features 

of the new RCA Victor "Gruve-Gard" record to Emanuel Sacks, Vice-President and General Manager, RCA Victor 

Records. Revolutionary design of "Gruve-Gard" protects playing surfaces of long-playing discs. 



Advances In High Fidelity Recording 



by Emanuel Sacks 

Vice President and General /Manager, 
RCA Victor Records 



R, 



.ISING public interest in high fidelity recordings is 
expected to provide the greatest impetus to the sale of 
records and "Victrola" phonographs since the introduc- 
tion of the 45-rpm speed in 1949. , 

Record sales alone should jump from an annual 
$225 million to more than $300 million because of the 
concentrated attention being given to high fidelity. A 
corresponding increase in instrument sales also is ex- 
pected, especially since addition to the RCA line of the 
new 45 high fidelity record player to be marketed at 
169.95. 

Anticipating the potentialities of high fidelity, RCA 
engineers and scientists for many years have been work- 
ing in sound laboratories to capture sound and reproduce 
it faithfully on all RCA Victor records and "Victrola" 
phonographs. And the man in the street who once was 
puzzled by such hi-fi jargon as "woofers," "tweeters" and 
"frequency response" will soon find these terms as famil- 
iar as the most enthusiastic high fidelity "bug." 



The far-reaching effects of the new hi-fi trend will 
be felt in several important areas. 
These will include: 

( a ) A new standard of listening enjoyment for the 
American home. 

( b ) The placement of high fidelity equipment in 
twice as many American homes. 

(c) Classical works which previously have had lim- 
ited appeal, finding new audiences because of 
their high fidelity reproduction. 

(d) The development of additional hi-fi improve- 
ments such as the new "Gruve-Gard" protective 
device which will give even greater listening 
perfection to long-playing discs. 

High fidelity has been defined as the nearest pos- 
sible approach to perfect fidelity. It leaves with the 
listener an impression of being present at a live musical 
performance. 

Delicate Balance Required 

RCA Victor's "New Orthophonic" sound techniques 
require a delicate balance between engineer and musi- 



12 RADIO AGE 



cian, bervveen musician and microphone and instrument 
placement. The technique of recording within the 
studio, as well as the process of manufacture, has 
changed tremendously within the past few seasons. New 
studios, new equipment and new innovations in record- 
ing, as well as a greater awareness of the importance of 
high fidelity sound on the part of the artist, all have 
contributed to the uptrend in audio listening. 

Until recently, high fidelity was the special property 
of the broadcast industry, great musical artists and the 
electronics technician who made an expensive hobby of 
seeking perfection in recorded sound by "assembling" 
various component parts. Now, however, "hi-fi" is 
being packaged for the average American home and it 
means a new era of recorded music pleasure for the 
family. 

Because of high fidelity, more and more of America's 
"middle-brow" families soon will be listening to — and 
liking — ail types of music. Music tastes will broaden 
because the greater listening range of records and phono- 
graphs are offering the average American, young or old, 
an entirely new concept of quality in recorded music. 

"Hearing Is Believing" 

In order to illustrate vividly what high fidelity means 
to the average listener, RCA Victor has just released an 
unusual demonstration disc called "Hearing Is Believ- 
ing." One side of the record is a dramatic demonstration 
of the difference between old sound and "New Ortho- 
phonic" High Fidelity illustrated by old and new re- 
cordings. 

The coupling contains selections from new classical, 
pop and jazz records which illustrate the finest in the 
new sound. The record sells for only $1.00 as a long- 
playing record and thirty-five cents as an EP 45-rpm 
recording. Anyone who still wonders what high fidelity 
is will certainly understand after listening to the "old" 
and the "new." In order to get as many of the«e records 
as possible into consumers' homes, this record is being 
offered as a special consumer service without profit to 
RCA, dealers, distributors or artists. 

For the more advanced audiophile, RCA Victor also 
has released a definitive treatise in both sound and text 
on the subject with the new album titled "Adventure in 
High Fidelity." Robert Russell Bennett, renowned 
Broadway arranger and composer, whose album of the 
"Victory at Sea" score was widely acclaimed for its re- 
markable sound, was commissioned to write a special 
symphonic work for this album. Notes by Robert D. 
Darrell, noted authority on phonograph records, outline 
in a booklet enclosed with the album the meaning of 
the many hi-fi technical terms and what may be expected 
from high fidelity as a listening experience. Charts 
graphically illustrate the range of common instrumental 



and vocal fundamentals and the audible frequency range 
for music, speech and noise; there is a musical test for 
ones own high fidelity or average phonograph equip- 
ment, and illustrations of how the human voice sounds 
in high fidelity as well as examples of the unusual sound 
in new pop recordings. 

"An Adventure in High Fidelity" is an impressive 
tribute to the growth and importance of "hi-fi" sound. 

Special Recording Techniques 

High fidelity records, as evidenced in RCA Victor's 
"New Orthophonic" release of the Berlioz "Damnation 
of Faust, " not only have wide frequency range but in- 
volve special recording techniques which sharpen the 
identity of the separate instruments and seem to project 
vocalists in front of the accompaniment. 

But high fidelity should not mean sound for sound's 
sake alone. We refer to the cult of "hi-fi-natics" who 
concentrate on moments of spectacular isolated sounds 
at the expense of musical content. True high fidelity is 
the complete fulfillment of the musical content without 
exaggerated emphasis on the more sensational possi- 
bilities. 

The latest advance in high fidelity is the multiple 
track recording, in which two separate sound tracks are 
recorded to reproduce music binaurally. This has been 
successfully accomplished on many new recordings which 
now await only further developments to make binaural 
or stereophonic sound practical for home use. 

In line with its forward-looking policy in research 
and the advancement of recording techniques, RCA 
Victor has pioneered in the pre-recorded tape field. A 
library of high fidelity tape recordings was marketed on 
17 reels this June, offering more than 11 hours of 
recorded music. Each of these reels provides approxi- 
mately the same amount of music as is offered on a 
12-inch long-playing record. Introduction of pre- 
recorded tape is in line with RCA's policy of continuing 
research, looking toward development of the finest re- 
cording and reproducing systems and techniques. 

With these new technological developments and the 
brilliant sound captured in such current RCA Victor 
releases as the "Damnation of Faust" performed by 
Charles Munch and the Boston Symphony, or the inter- 
pretation by Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony 
of "Richard Strauss in High Fidelity," the prophetic 
words of Leopold Stokowski quoted recently in an inter- 
view on his vast experience in the realm of sound 
reproduction, rings prophetically true. 

"I am convinced," stated Stokowski, "that in days to 
come, recorded music will have further developments 
than those I have just mentioned. We cannot foresee 
those yet. The potentialities are infinite; so is the in- 
ventive power of the human mind." 



RADIO AGE 13 



RADAR for Canada s Navy 



&y Bruce Lanskail 

Manager, Government Contracts Division 
Engineering Products Dept. 
RCA Victor Company, Ltd. 



n 



'uRiNG World War II, Canadians took to the water 
as they had taken to the air in the first World War and 
a great Canadian naval tradition was born. 

Since the war, the Royal Canadian Navy has become 
an important part of the nation's defense force and to 
step up its defense efficiency the Navy recently pur- 
:hased from RCA Victor Company, Ltd., Montreal, the 
largest and most powerful air search radar equipment 
ever produced in Canada. 

The new equipment was demonstrated to top Navy 
officers, Department of Defense Production officials and 
the Canadian press at RCA Victor headquarters. Two 
Sea Fury fighter aircraft served as aerial targets for the 
test demonstration and were picked up on the radar 
screen as they approached Montreal. Simultaneously, the 
movements of the 90-foot antenna, mounted on top of 
one of the RCA Victor buildings, were shown on a tele- 
vision screen so that naval officers, production officials 
and the press had a complete picture of all the equip- 
ment in action throughout the test. 

Set up in an enclosed section of the company's engi- 
neering products department, the equipment was oper- 

Examining the screen of Canada's newest and most 
powerful radar at the RCA 'Victor plant in Montreal are, 
left to right, Commodore H. N. Lay, Assistant Chief 
Naval Staff (Warfare); Commodore W. L. M. Brown, 
Assistant Chief Naval Staff (Air) and Commodore (L) 
W. H. G. Roger, Electrical Engineer-in-Chief. 




ated by a naval operator under conditions simulating 
those which would be found on shipboard. The demon- 
stration was completely successful with the results ex- 
ceeding the expectations of naval officers, Commodore 
H. N. Lay, OBE, CD, RCN, Assistant Chief Naval Staff 
(Warfare), declared foUowing the final day's tests. 

Designed to detect enemy aircraft at long ranges, the 
new radar equipment will greatly strengthen the defense 
effectiveness of Canada's Atlantic and Pacific fleets. Sets 
are being installed in destroyer escorts and in the aircraft 
carrier now being built for the Royal Canadian Navy. 

Weighing more than two tons, the complete equip- 
ment includes a stainless steel antenna which will be 
mounted high on the warships' superstructures, a trans- 
mitter, a modulator and several smaller parts. The an- 
tenna rotates continuously, sweeping the sky with a radio 
beam shaped like a fan on edge. The bearing and di;- 
tance of an aircraft more than 100 miles distant are 
revealed at the instant it intercepts the radio beam. This 
information is then displayed instantaneously on the tele- 
vision-like screen of the plan position indicator unit. 

The equipment's output is several hundred Thousand 
watts and can be increased to several million watts, inak- 
ing it one of the most powerful naval aircraft search 
radars in the world. 

Commenting on the success of the Montreal demon- 
stration. Commodore Lay emphasized that the new radar 
could be of tremendous value to Canada in an emergency. 
He pointed out that the equipment was being manu- 
factured in Canada so that the navy could be assured 
of production in that country. RCA Victor Company, 
he said, was to be congratulated for the efficiency with 
which it had produced the first set to be delivered and 
for the manner in which the demonstration had been so 
successfully staged. 

Commodore (L) W. H. G. Riger, OBS, CD, RCN, 
electrical engineer in chief, declared that the harmony 
of engineering entailed in its construction was obvious 
when it was realized that it had to be both highly sensi- 
tive and extremely rugged. The equipment has been 
designed to withstand Arctic and equatorial tempera- 
tures and also to be shock-proof at all times. 

The naval contract, a vitally important one in the 
Canadian defense program, amounted to $3,500,000. 
RCA Victor Company, Ltd. was selected for the work 
because of its extensive research and production facilities 
.md its long record in supplying communication and 
detection equipment to Canada's armed forces. 



Combat Television 




In the "command post of the future" at Fort Meade, Md., the briefing 
officer explains maneuver to be covered by TV on the battlefield. 



On August 11, 1954, an attacking force of United 
States Army soldiers swarmed ashore in amphibious 
personnel carriers after a lake crossing at Fort George 
G. Meade, Maryland, to assault a simulated enemy 
stronghold. With the first wave of troops rode the 
herald of a new era in battlefield communications — a 
combat soldier equipped with a hand-carried Vidicon 
television camera that flashed back to regimental head- 
quarters an instantaneous picture of the critical beach- 
head action. 

The regimental commander, at his command post in 
the field, used the eyes of television to direct the action, 
swiftly adapting his original battle plan to new circum- 
stances conveyed to him by Vidicon cameras in the 
battle area and by larger television cameras mounted in 
a reconnaissance plane circling over the enemy's supply 
and assembly points. 

This was combat television, demonstrated publicly 



for the first time on the twentieth anniversary of the 
concept of television for military use, first proposed to 
the Armed Services by Brig. General David SarnofF, 
Chairman of the Board of RCA. It was in 1934, when 
the art of television itself was in its infancy, that Gen- 
eral SarnofT initiated discussions with representatives of 
the services in Washington on applying the extended 
and instantaneous electronic sight of television to war- 
fare. From those early discussions stemmed the subse- 
quent development of television equipment and tech- 
niques for combat use in air and at sea — and now on 
land. 

An audience of top-ranking military and industrial 
leaders and representatives of the nation's press watched 
the Fort Meade demonstration in a "command post of 
the future." Observing the demonstration, and partici- 
pating in a national network color telecast of portions 
of the event, were General Matthew B. Ridgway, Army 



RADIO AGE 75 




Before the "eye" of a combat TV camera, troops assault 
a position after the lake crossing at Fort Meade. 



Chief of StatT; Major General George W. Smythe, 
Deputy Commander of the United States Second Army; 
Major General George I. Back, Chief Signal Officer, 
and General Sarnoff. 

Commander Sees and Controls the Battle Action 

In the simulated command post, the role of television 
in ground combat took dramatic shape in an exercise 
presented jointly by the United States Second Army, 
the Signal Corps, and RCA. 

The regimental commander and his staiT, facing a 
large television screen, called for instantaneous pictures 
from cameras in the field and in an observation plane 
over the battle area as the action progressed. 

A new type of enemy tank was shown on the screen 



and its details rapidly noted by the staff intelligence 
officer. An enemy prisoner, interviewed before a Vidi- 
con camera immediately after his capture at the front, 
disclosed the nature of the enemy forces opposing the 
assault. A map found on the prisoner and held up to 
the camera divulged an enemy scheme of counterattack; 
the plan was confirmed by the airborne television unit, 
which located an assembly of hostile forces, and the 
commander rapidly altered his plans to break up the 
counterattack before it could be mounted. With the 
help of another Vidicon camera close to the front, heli- 
copters were directed for speedy evacuation of the 
wounded. 

Through the entire action, the commander was able, 
through the eyes of television, to see and control his 
battle situation. 

The nationwide color telecast, covered by the color 
television cameras of RCA and the National Broadcast- 
ing Company and broadcast over the NBC television 
network, emphasized the future role of color in convey- 
ing more complete information for the commander and 
his staff, such as the color distinction between different 
types of terrain and foliage, natural and camouflaged 
objects, and the variety of colored markings and smoke 
signals used by friendly and enemy forces. 

Viewed on color receivers in the Pentagon, at the 
White House, and at military headquarters across the 
country, the color network program demonstrated an- 
other role of television as a future means of communi- 
cation between a theatre of operations and headquarters 
in Washington or elsewhere. 

Future Importance of Combat TV 

In their comments on the demonstration. Generals 
Ridgway, Back and Sarnoff were unanimous in emphasiz- 



Airborne TV cameras in a reconnaissance plane pro- 
vided air view of enemy territory for the commander. 



An "enemy" prisoner, captured at the front, is examined 
before a combat TV camera for rapid intelligence study. 




ing the important part that television is destined to play 
in future operations on the battlefield. 

"Television has a great military potential, and it 
seems to me that our nation is making fine progress in 
developing this potential," General Ridgway said. "After 
its possibilities are thoroughly tested, television, as a 
means of military communication, can take its place 
beside the atomic cannon, the Skysweeper antiaircraft 
gun, the NIKE and Corporal guided missiles, and the 
Honest John rocket as part of our modern Army." 

General Ridgway also paid tribute to General Sarnoff 
for his role in encouraging the development of television 
for military use, saying: 

"I doubt that any individual man has contributed 
more in this vitally important field than you. General 
SarnofF, through your vision, your energy and your 
persistent patriotism." 

General Back said: 

"The further development of these electronic eyes 
you have just seen will provide the battlefield com- 
mander of the future with a visual means of observing 
and controlling his own troops as well as providing him 
with a vigilant eye against surprise enemy attacks. In- 
creased combat effectiveness and a substantial saving of 
soldiers' lives will be the result of this added visual 
facility." 

General Sarnoff called the demonstration "concrete 
evidence that a new era in tactical communications 
has opened," and he pointed to the future development 
of combat television by saying: 

"The demonstration we are witnessing today indi- 
cates that comb.u television units consisting of miniature 
color cameras and transmitters can be carried in action 
by one man, or fixed in positions that will enable a 
constant eye to be kept on critical areas." 




An elevated platform helps on NBC color camera to 
cover the battlefield during the nationwide colorcast. 



He added: 

"I foresee the extensive use of military television not 
only as a tactical system for use in combat, but also 
for communications between the center of command 
in Washington or elsewhere, and theatres of operation 
across the seas." 

"Operation Threshold" 

The Fort Meade television maneuver, executed by 
troops of the famed 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, was 
divided into two segments: 1) a demonstration of the 
Army Signal Corps Interim Tactical Television System, 
on a black-and-white closed-circuit system feeding to 
monitors and the commander's TV screen in the com- 
mand post tent, and 2 ) an assault carried out before the 
color cameras for broadcast over the NBC network, and 



Mounted on an amphibious vehicle, a color camera 
focusses on troops in action for the colorcast. 



Signal Corps combat TV cameraman, in a foxhole, 
flashes bock a picture of frontline action. 





'■■■ ^ -I ii' iMi • " ii ■ Itiiiiiliiriil 



Above, TV combined with the Army's new long-range 
lens may give instantaneous view of distant objectives. 
At right, combat TV camera mounted on amphibious 
vehicle covers start of mock assauh across lake at 
Fort Meade. 




viewed in the command post on RCA color television 
sets. 

The Signal Corps television unit, attached to the 
regiment for the exercise, comprised three rugged, com- 
pact RCA Vidicon cameras carried by combat camera- 
men with the troops, and two larger RCA cameras 
mounted in an L-20 reconnaissance plane. The ground 
cameras were linked by cable to truck-borne transmitters 
which relayed the pictures by microwave to a receiving 
unit and small preview monitors in the command post. 
From the airborne cameras, signals were sent directly to 
headquarters by microwave relay and appeared on a 
fourth monitor. 

The closed-circuit demonstration showed the ability 
of today's experimental battlefield equipment to ac- 
complish these tasks: 

1 ) Location, evaluation and designation of artillery 
targets; 2 ) adjustment and control of artillery fire; 3 ) 
transmission of data from the combat area to head- 
quarters; 4) reconnaissance of enemy territory to detect 
supply points, assembly areas and movement of forces; 
5) intelligence reporting, such as examination of cap- 
tured personnel and equipment; 6) briefing of tactical 
commanders before an action; 7 ) observation and con- 
trol of friendly troops in action and behind the lines. 

The color demonstration provided a glimpse of the 
ultimate goal — a combat TV system that will give the 
commander a continuous view of the situation and 
terrain as they actually appear. 

Predicted in 1927 

While 1954 marks the twentieth year of active co- 
operation between RCA and the services in developing 



television for military use, the concept itself originated 
at an even earlier date, in a statement by General Sarnofif 
in 1927. Speaking that year before the Army War Col- 
lege in Washington, General Sarnoff said: 

"Perhaps it would be too fantastic to consider the 
part that may be played by direct television in the war 
of the future, but it is not too early to consider the 
direction which laboratory research should take in its 
application to military uses. It is conceivable that a 
radio-television transmitter installed in an airplane might 
be useful in transmitting a direct image of the enemy's 
terrain, thus enabling greater accuracy in gunfire." 

General Sarnoflf's vision of the future began to take 
concrete form in 1934 when Dr. V. K. Zworykin of 
RCA Laboratories suggested the specific application of 
television in aerial bombs — pilotless missiles with elec- 
tronic eyes — as an American alternative to the use of 
suicide pilots even then being discussed by the Japanese. 
General Sarnoff immediately approved the suggestion 
and initiated discussions with the Armed Services in 
Washington. Encouraged by the reaction of the military 
leaders, he established a research program under which 
RCA scientists and engineers were assigned to pioneer 
and build suitable equipment. 

Initially, the development work was concentrated 
in the field of airborne TV equipment, with the result 
that Army and Navy Air Forces were able to carry out 
experimental attacks during World War II with the 
now-famous RCA BLOCK equipment. This equipment 
was demonstrated publicly in 1946 at the Anacostia 
Naval Air Station and was later used by the services at 
the Bikini atom bomb tests in drone aircraft flown 
through the atomic mushroom. 



78 RADIO AGE 



RCA Elects Director, Promotes 4 Executives 



X-/lection of a new director and the promotion of 
four key executives fias been announced by RCA. 

Dr. Elmer W. Engstrom, Executive Vice-President, 
RCA Research and Engineering, was elected a member 
of the RCA Board of Directors on October 1, filling a 
vacancy caused by retirement from the Board of Walter 
A. Buck. 

The executive promotions included election of 
Robert A. Seidel as Executive Vice-President, RCA Con- 
sumer Products; Paul A. Barkmeier as President of 
RCA Estate Appliance Corporation; Douglas Y. Smith 
as Vice-President and General Manager, RCA Tube 
Division, and Albert F. Watters as Vice-President and 
Operating Manager, RCA International Division. 

Dr. Engstrom, who became Executive Vice-President, 
Research and Engineering, on June 4, 1954, has broad 
responsibility for all research and engineering activities 
of RCA. In addition, he is head of RCA Laboratories 
and a member of the Board of Directors of RCA Victor 
Company, Ltd., Canada. 

Associated with Industry Since 1923 

Associated with the electronics industry since his 
graduation from the University of Minnesota in 1923, 
Dr. Engstrom joined RCA in 1930. First as an engineer 
and then as a research administrator, he has had a 
pioneering role in the development of radio, sound mo- 
tion picture apparatus, the general science of electronics, 
and both black-and-white and color television. 

Mr. Seidel joined RCA in 1949 and served until 
recently as Vice-President of RCA's Sales and Services 
subsidiaries. Prior to his association with RCA, he had 
been Vice-President and Controller of the W. T. Grant 
Company. 

Mr. Barkmeier, who joined RCA in 1948, has been 
Vice-President, Distribution, of RCA. Previously he 
had been Vice-President and General Manager of the 
RCA Victor Record Division. 

Mr. Smith, who joined RCA in 1930, had been Gen- 
eral Marketing Manager of the Tube Division. Previ- 
ously, he had served as manager of RCA tube plants in 
Harrison, N. J., and Lancaster, Pa., and as Tube Mer- 
chandise Manager and Manager of Tube Sales Opera- 
tions. In 1951, he received the Company's highest em- 
ployee honor, the RCA Victor Award of Merit. 

Mr. Watters, previously the Director of Associated 
Company Operations for the RCA International Divi- 
sion, joined RCA in 1935 and has served in various 
administrative posts in personnel and manufacturing. 



Dr. Elmer W. Engstrom 




Albert F. Watters 



RADIO AGE 19 



1 , 





RCA in Africa 



By B. F. Moore, Jr. 

Manager, Off Shore Procurement 
RCA International Division 



A.. 



.N impression of tremendous growth and progress 
greets the visitor in present-day Africa. Its world of 
witchcraft, forbidding jungles and tribal drums is giving 
way to vast industrial development and modernization. 

Everywhere there are signs that the great continent 
has been undergoing remarkable changes. Modern com- 
munications systems now connect African cities; metro- 
politan offices are air-conditioned, and police cars are 
radio-equipped. Ships, plying between ports, have the 
latest navigational aids; natives are forsaking canoes for 
modern passenger planes. Behind much of the change 
is the electronic technician who is helping the "land of 
the lion" to telescope 50 years of Western technology 
into a single decade. 

Playing an important role in the building of a new 
Africa is the Radio Corporation of America. RCA is 
bringing to Africa some of the skilled technical aid 
which is so essential if the area's incredible potential is 
ever to be realized. Vital to its development are vast 
communications projects, electronic aids to conquer 
desert and jungle, lofty broadcasting towers to speak. 
not only to Africa, but to the world. 

Equipment in Belgian Congo 

Typical examples of the work being done by RCA 
in Africa may be found in Elizabethville, capital ot 
Katanga in the Belgian Congo. This is a fabulously 
wealthy section where copper and other important min- 
erals are mined and where RCA equipment is doing a 
variety of jobs. A case in point is a mobile communica- 



tions unit which keeps the local headquarters of the 
Union Miniere du Haut Katanga in constant touch with 
the foreman and working crews seven miles away and 
over a hill. 

The efficient policing of the area is another task done 
by RCA Mobile Radio units. With the assistance of 
radio-equipped cars, the central station at Elizabethville 
found that a large area could be guarded with only a 
handful of men whose patrol cars are always in com- 
munication with the central station. 

The BCK railroad in Katanga is using RCA mobile 
radio equipment to control all locomotive switching 
operations. Ninety miles away, at JadotviUe, this same 
railroad has put RCA 16mm projectors on day and night 
shifts. During the day, training films are shown, while 
at night the projectors are utilized for recreational films 
for the railroad employees. 

Leopoldville, the capital of Belgian Congo, recently 
celebrated the completion of ten years of shortwave 
broadcasting. Two RCA short-wave transmitters, one 



An RCA customer makes her selection of a radio in 

Leopoldville, Belgian Congo — one of many African 

centers served by RCA International Division. 




20 RAD/O AGE 




Radar on the Congo — the antenna of an RCA radar 

set installed on one of the steamers plying the great 

river between Leopoldville and other centers. 

50 kw and one 7(2 kw, liave enabled the local station 
to fulfill day and night broadcasting schedules for the 
last decade. 

Just across the river in French Equatorial Africa. 
Brazzaville has also been broadcasting for 10 years with 
an RCA 50 kw transmitter. In addition, Brazzaville is 
equipped with RCA Transmitter-Receiver^ units, and 
RCA Telephone and Telegraph Transmitters and Re- 
ceivers. 

Helps to Guide Planes 

In the city of Usumbura, commercial center of 
Ruanda-Urundi, a United Nations Trust Territory ad- 
ministered by Belgium, an RCA Telephone and Tele- 
graph Transmitter and Receiver helps to guide planes 
into the city's airport. For over a year this unit has been 
providing essential communication with incoming planes 
and neighboring airports. The city has no regular the- 
ater, but movies are shown at the two leading hotels 
with RCA I6mm units, whose performance has been 
unaffected by the difficult climatic conditions of high 
temperatures and humidity. 

Because the Belgian Congo encompasses a tre- 
mendous area, and because it is so important to world 
commerce, two of its greatest problems have been trans- 
portation and communication. Electronics is now help- 
ing to solve the problems. Navigation of the Congo 
River has been speeded up by the addition of RCA 
Marine Radar equipment on river steamers. Prior to the 
addition of this equipment, it was necessary to tie up 
the boats every night because of the difficulties of navi- 
gating in a constantly changing channel. 

RCA Radar equipment has also been installed on 
many lake steamers, helping them to provide faster serv- 
ice. In addition, RCA Diversity Receivers and Com- 




RCA Strato-World portable radio provided only source 
of outside news on African safari for Barney Berlinger, 
Pennsylvania gear manufacturer, and his son, Barney, Jr. 

munication Receivers are rendering dependable service 
on most of the international communication circuits that 
come into Leopoldville. 

Both RCA home radios and air conditioners have 
won high praise from residents of the Belgian Congo 
for their trouble-free performances despite climatic 
obstacles. 

In the Sahara Desert 

Another area in which RCA equipment is rendering 
invaluable service is in the Sahara Desert, an area ol 
some 3,000,000 square miles. The Dakar-Niger Rail- 
road runs between Dakar and Bamako and represents 
a tiny beachhead of progress in this hitherto unmechan- 
ized world of sand and searing sun. Installed at both 
ends of the 800-mile line and at a point near the center 
are RCA Transmitters and Fixed Receivers. They not 
only furnish communication between the two offices, but 
safeguard the operation of the line. 

In Liberia, RCA helps in the efficient operation of 
the government. When President Tubman tours the 
interior of the country, an RCA Transmitter-Receiver 
goes along so that he can keep in touch with his govern- 
ment offices in Monrovia. The Liberian Posts and Tele- 
graphs Administration utilizes the services of RCA 
Transmitters and Receivers which enable Liberia tc 
communicate with the outside world. 

The RCA International Division entered Africa 
many years ago and has built up strong distributing or- 
ganizations for the sale of RCA products. These organ- 
izations, in all regions of Africa, from Tangier to Cape 
Town, are part of the new Africa. RCA forms an elec- 
tronic bridge that links Africa to the rest of the world 
— a bridge that will enable this productive continent to 
prosper and grow. 



RADIO AGE 2? 



UHF Booster Station 

Tested at Vicksbiirg 



RCA scientists and engineers have helped television 
to climb over a range of hills into Vicksburg, Miss., in 
a successful test of the world's first "booster" station 
designed for ultra high frequency ( UHF ) TV operation. 

For six weeks during the summer, TV viewers in a 
major part of Vicksburg were able for the first time to 
receive clearly the programs telecast by station WJTV, 
Channel 25, in Jackson, Miss. Although Jackson is 
only some 35 miles east of Vicksburg, most of Vicksburg 
is shielded from the station by a ridge of hills which 
has interfered with UHF reception. 

The problem made Vicksburg a suitable test area 
for RCA scientists, who have been engaged for some 
time in a program to find methods of increasing the 
strength of UHF signals under these conditions. Geog- 
raphy has created similar difficulties for UHF broad- 
casters and viewers in a number of areas throughout the 
country, and the Vicksburg test, on which a report has 
now been filed with the Federal Communications Com- 
mission, indicates that a feasible solution has been found. 

The project was carried out during June and July 
by a special RCA research team under the supervision 
of Dr. George H. Brown, director of the Systems Re- 
search Laboratory, RCA Laboratories, at the D.ivid 
Sarnoff Research Center in Princeton, N. J. 

Operating under temporary authorization from the 
FCC, the RCA team conducted the tests after surveying 
the area to determine the most suitable location for the 
specially-designed UHF booster equipment. The booster 
operates by picking up the signal from the broadcasting 
station on a receiving antenna, amplifying the signal, 
and retransmitting it on the same channel by means of 
an antenna directed toward the required area. The con- 
cept is not new, but it has not been done previously 
with equipment capable of handling UHF signals. 

The field tests, made under actual operating condi- 
tions, showed: 

1. That station WJTV received an effective increase 
in its power by 200 times in the "shadowed" area of 
Vicksburg through the coverage provided by the booster 
system; 

2. That the experimental RCA UHF booster trans- 
mitter, with power of only about 10 watts, provided 
acceptable service in an area partially shadowed by inter- 
vening terrain; 




Receiving antenna of the RCA experimental UHF booster 
station, shown at Princeton before shipment to Vicks- 
burg for the successful six-weeks trial. 



3. That a good engineering estimate of the effective 
radiated power needed to establish a given grade of 
UHF service can be made once the topography of a 
specific television service area is known. 

The Vicksburg test area, the RCA scientists found, 
needed an effective radiated power of 1000 watts for 
adequate coverage. The required power was obtained 
by use of a special transmitting antenna with a gain of 
100 and a booster power of 10 watts. 

The RCA UHF booster system is built around a 
low-power auxiliary transmitter, a highly directional 
receiving antenna system, and amplifying equipment. 
The equipment used in the test was constructed at 
Princeton, where it was operated experimentally before 
its shipment to Vicksburg. At the test location, the 
receiving antenna was mounted on a water tower about 
110 feet above the ground, and the transmitting an- 
tenna, directed into the shielded area of the city, was 
set on a wooden tower 100 feet away. 



22 RADIO AGE 



Historic Radio 
Tower Razed 
at Chathaiu . . . 

JLX. renowned American landmark vanished from the 
scene on August 27 at 11:37 a.m., leaving behind mem- 
ories of the great pioneering days of radio. After 40 
years of service, the lofty 365-foot radio tower of marine 
coastal station WCC at Chatham, Massachusetts, was 
razed. 

The structure, part of the network of marine coastal 
stations operated by the Radiomarine Corporation ol 
America, a subsidiary of RCA, had served throughout 
an entire epoch of radio communication. The position 
of the tower atop of a hill placed it a 447 feet above 
sea level and its flashing lights had been seen by captains 
40 miles at sea. Originally erected for receiving signaL^ 
from Europe, it was later used to support antennas which 
received messages from ships afloat on all waters of 
the world. 

The leveling of the tower marks another advance in 
the rapid growth of electronics. In the infant days of 
radio such structures were necessary; but as the art ot 
communications advanced, smaller and more powerful 
equipment was created and proved equally effective. To- 
day's methods of communications have rendered the 
tower unnecessary. 

Built in 1914 

Historically as well as visually, the tubular steel struc- 
ture served as a landmark, having its wellspring directly 
in the beginnings of radio communications. The weighty 
mast was built in 1914 by the J. G. White Engineering 
Company for the Marconi Wireless Company of Amer- 
ica. It was part of the Chatham station which had 
supplanted the original Marconi station situated at Well- 
fleet, Mass., 23 miles north of Chatham. 

The Chatham station, WCC, which the tower shad- 
owed, maintains a safety watch on distress radio fre- 
quencies 24 hours a day, transmits weather reports 
periodically, gives free medical advice to ships which 
carry no doctors, sends press reports to large passenger 
ships which publish daily papers on board, and receives 
and transmits thousands of business and social radio- 
telegrams to and from ships and shore. 

Aside from playing a vital role in the regular day- 
to-day communications business of WCC, the tower had 




After 40 years of service, the historic tower of Radio- 
marine station WCC at Chatham, Mass., crashes to the 
ground. Above, the mast buckles at start of its fall; 
below, the shattered structure lies on the ground. 




been involved in many of the most exciting dramas 
lived by man. If it could have talked, it might have told 
the history it made working with famed pilots, bold 
explorers and daring seamen, noted ships and planes. 

It could have told of maintaining communications 
with the Byrd expeditions to the South Pole; the lighter- 
than-air craft, "Graf Zeppelin"; the ill-fated "Hinden- 
burg"; of having provided the weather information that 
Lindbergh relied on during his celebrated flight. 

When the last guy wire was seared and the giant 
had tumbled, it was more than just a fallen tower, for 
its going signified a nostalgic farewell to a bygone era. 



RADIO AG'=. 23 



I 



TV EYE 

for Commerce 
and Industry 



by M. S. Klinedinst 

Manager, Distributed Products 

RCA Engineering Products Division 

T 

.Lelevision may have helped to produce the watch 
you are wearing, saved you a few minutes at your 
bank this morning, or attracted you recently to an ex- 
hibit or an advertising display. It may be protecting 
your business property or helping to train you and your 
fellow workers in sales and production techniques. 

These jobs, and many more, already are being 
handled by the workhorse variety of television — the 
closed-circuit system that provides sight as well as sound 
communication in the factory, the office and the store. 







The widening scope of applications in business and in- 
dustry in the past year alone suggests that television 
already is working a revolution in the field of business 
comparable to that wrought by broadcast TV in mass 
communication. 

Just a year ago, RCA introduced the "TV Eye," a 
rugged, compact and inexpensive system consisting of 
a Vidicon camera weighing less than five pounds, and a 
camera-control unit. Connected to any standard home 
television receiver, the camera and control provide 
closed-circuit communications within a range of 1200 
feet on any television channel from 2 to 6. With its 
suggested retail price of $995, the system is one of the 
most inexpensive available. 

Hundreds of installations of the "TV Eye" have been 





The "TV Eye" helps RCA workers to meet an assembly 

deadline. Assemblers, above, follow through television 

the technique and instructions of specialist, left, in the 

complicated assembly of an intricate device. 



24 rad;o age 



made, with a range of industrial and commercial appli- 
cations extending from production control to remote 
observation of processes too hazardous ror human sur- 
veillance. About 80 percent of these installations have 
gone into industry; 10 percent have been piaced in 
banks, and the remainder have been applied to miscel- 
laneous tasks such as product demonstrations, property 
protection, merchandising and sales promotion activities, 
and accommodation of overflow crowds. 

New "Eyes" for Boston's Oldest Bank 

The most extensive system yet installed is cutting 
costs and improving service in Boston's oldest bank — 
the Provident Institution for Savings in the Town of 
Boston. The American Banker, the daily newspaper 
of the banking profession, credits "TV Eye ' with having 
"streamlined the bank's procedure, simplified and 
speeded up teller operations, and provided swift, effi- 
cient service for over 100,000 depositors. " 

The Provident installation includes four cameras in 
the bank's signature section, four in the balance section, 
and an individual receiver in each of the 17 teller booths 
Its use has reduced the process of withdrawals to a 
matter of seconds, since tellers can now verify signatures 
and balances without leaving their booths. Instead, each 
teller is able to call directly to both balance and signa- 
ture files over a microphone and loudspeaker system. 
The file clerk locates the proper card and places it be- 



fore the lens ot the camera. An indicator box, with 
buttons corresponding to each receiver position, enables 
the clerk to direct the information only to the tellei 
concerned, who views the balance information or the 
signature on a television screen mounted below the 
counter level and is not visible to the depositor. 

Besides saving valuable floor space in the bank by 
eliminating files in the banking area, the installation 
has substantially increased the number of transactions 
each teller can make and has permitted the Provident 
bank to accommodate thousands of new depositors. 

Saving Time for the Watchmakers 

Another "TV Eye" installation, at the Providence, 
R. 1., plant of the Bulova Watch Company, is providing 
visual communication between engineering and produc- 
tion sections that are located in different buildings. 

Before the system was installed, Bulova's engineer- 
ing-production problems had to be handled by telephone 
or by personal traveling between the two buildings to 
check parts or blueprints. Now, with the use of one 
"TV Eye " unit and a standard home receiver in each of 
the two buildings, production and engineering personnel 
can compare notes and check their parts and blueprints 
visually without leaving their desks. 

The result has been a saving of hundreds of man- 
hours for executives and skilled personnel, greater effi- 
ciency, and less time away from the job. 




Largest installation yet of "TV Eye" helps to speed 
banking operations at the Provident Institution for Sav- 
ings in Boston. File clerk, above, holds signature card 
before the camera for viewing by teller, right. 




RAD/O AGE 25 




At the Bulova Watch Company in Providence, R. I., "TV Eye" permits visual communication between engineers, left, 
and production section, right, in separate buildings. 



The RCA Engineering Products Division, which 
manufactures the "TV Eye," has itself gleaned benefits 
through use of the system. Recently, the Division was 
faced with a rush order for a key electronic component 
used in its "Stereoscope" theatre sound equipment. With 
ten theatres calling for the equipment for the opening 
date of Cinemascope feature, a quick and accurate mul- 
tiple assembly line operation was necessary to meet the 
deadline. This is how it was done: 

A "TV Eye" camera was mounted in position over 
a work bench where a specialist assembled the com- 
ponent. The camera picked up every movement of his 
hands and his tools as he assembled the intricate device. 
Simultaneously, a close-up, step-by-step picture of the 
assembly operation was transmitted to six television re- 
ceivers placed at production benches on the floor. In 
front of each set, an assembler watched the screen and 
followed the movements of the le:ider, completing the 
components in time to make the deadline. 

Uses Virtually Unlimited 

These are three varied examples from a list of "TV 
Eye" uses that appears virtually unlimited. 

Another bink — the new Industrial National B.ink 
of Dallas, Tex., — has installed a system that links four 
outside teller windows with signature and record rooms 
deep within the bank itself, permitting rapid drive-in 
banking service for its clients. 

A number of companies are making effective use of 



"TV Eye" for promotional purposes. The Parker Pen 
Company, for example, employs a system in its sales 
promotion campaign with a "see yourself" application. 

The system also has been applied to department 
store operations. The L. W. Ayres Company in Indian- 
apolis has used "TV Eye" to televise fashion and style 
shows within the store for passers-by outside, to pro- 
mote special sales with "see yourself on television" as 
an added attraction for customers, and, in a more tech- 
nical application, to test and check television sets. 

In every installation, "TV Eye" has either improved 
productive or commercial operations, or increased the 
effectiveness of a promotional campaign. In its indus- 
trial applications, it is proving the ideal means of ex- 
tending human vision to remote points, with resulting 
improvements in quality, total production, or safety — 
or perhaps all of these things. 

For particular and special industrial uses, RCA has 
devised and built accessories to adapt the system to a 
variety of working conditions. These include such fea- 
tures as remote optical focus, permitting the camera lens 
to be adjusted remotely from the control unit; weather- 
proof housing, to protect the camera in outdoor appli- 
cations, and explosion-proof housing for operation in 
atmosphere containing gasoline, petroleum, naphtha, 
natural gas and other explosive elements or compounds. 

A number of installations requiring these accessories 
already have been made, and the list is expanding 
steadily as progressive managements become aware of 
the vital contribution which television can make to the 
improvement of many industrial operations. 



26 RADIO AGE 



Dr. Zworykin Elected Honorary 
Vice-President of RCA 




Dr. Vladimir K. Zworykin, with historic TV tubes he has helped to develop. 



D. 



'r. Vladimir K. Zworykin, who conceived and 
developed the iconoscope, television's electronic "eye," 
pioneered in development of the television picture tube, 
and contributed to many other aspects of modern tele- 
vision, retired on August 1, 1954, as Vice-President and 
Technical Consultant, RCA Laboratories, and on August 
6 was elected by the RCA Board of Directors to the 
first Honorary Vice-Presidency in RCA history. 

In a tribute to Dr. Zworykin's many contributions to 
electronic science, leading scientists, educators and in- 
dustrialists met in Princeton, N. J., on September 18 for 
a scientific seminar and a dinner given by RCA in his 
honor. The seminar, covering developments of the past 
thirty years in synthetic materials, aeronautics, nuclear 
physics and medical electronics, included talks by Dean 
Hugh Taylor of the Graduate School, Princeton Uni- 
versity; Dr. I. 1. Rabi, Nobel Prize winner and Professor 
of Physics at Columbia University; Dr. Jerome C. Hun- 
saker, retired head of the Department of Aeronautical 
Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and 



Dr. James Hillier, Director of the Research Department 
of Melpar, Inc. 

Brig. General David Sarnoff, Chairman of the Board 
of RCA, was the principal speaker at the dinner, held 
at the David Sarnoff Research Center of RCA. In a talk 
paying high tribute to Dr. Zworykin, General Sarnoff 
said: 

"When you add to the genius of a Zworykin the 
freedom and opportunities provided by America, you 
really nourish the divine spirit and ignite the divine 
spark of achievement." 

Dr. E. W. Engstrom, Executive Vice-President, RCA 
Research and Engineering, who served as toastmaster at 
the dinner, emphasized that Dr. Zworykin will continue 
to serve as a consultant to RCA. 

"While there has been a formal change on the rec- 
ords coincident with retirement, we will continue to 
have his counsel," Dr. Engstrom said. "He will continue 
to share his days with us in the laboratory to the extent 
that he wishes to do this." 



RADIO AGE 77 



RCA Service Company 
Consumer Service 



{KiTJ 




One of the fleet — the familiar truck of the RCA serviceman. 



by D. H. Kunsman 

Vice President. Consumer Products Service Division, 
RCA Service Company, Inc. 



o. 



'N the last day of August this year, a vicious hur- 
ricane, deceptively called "Carol," swept New England, 
wreaking havoc with lives and property. Phone facilities 
were disrupted, electric power failed. In Boston, the 650- 
foot tower that serves the NBC affiliate, WBZ-TV, 
collapsed. Antennas atop countless homes were ripped 
from their moorings and destroyed. 

Within hours. New England branch offices of the 
Consumer Products Service Division of the RCA Service 
Company, Inc., were flooded with calls, telegrams, letters 
and personal visits. RCA Service Company technicians 



worked ten to twelve hours a day trying to bring some 
order out of the chaos. Telephone poles, trees and debris 
blocked roads, making the work even more difficult. 

The only bright aspect of the story was the almost 
miraculous speed with which the RCA technicians exe- 
cuted their tasks. WBZ-TV went back on the air, with 
a temporary antenna, the same day that the hurricane 
struck. New antennas were installed on the roofs of 
homes as soon as possible after each loss had been re- 
ported to the Service Company branch office. Often it 
meant arduous travel over rough detours for the techni- 
cians — clearing away debris as they went, or helping 
with any emergency that they might meet. But, despite 
almost impossible conditions, the RCA technicians did 
arrive and were able to bring the situation under control 
in unexpectedly short time. 



28 RAD\0 AGE 



The hies of the RCA Service Company are hlled with 
letters praising the RCA technician who serves the 
average customer so well — often far beyond the call of 
duty. One such customer wrote, "1 wonder if you ever 
stop to consider what a goodwill ambassador your serv- 
iceman is. Do you realize he is the only connection we 
as customers have with RCA? I think they are a fine 
group of men, and their work is above reproach." 

Thousands of Contacts Each Week 

Unexpected and even dramatic occurrences are actu- 
ally "par for the course" for the more than 3,000 repre- 
sentatives of the Consumer Products Service Division. 
In addition to their routine duties of installing and 
correcting RCA Victor television, radio and phonograph 
sets and servicing RCA Air Conditioners and RCA 
Estate Ranges, they are often called upon for much more. 

Many thousands of contacts with RCA customers are 
made every week by these carefully-selected, well-trained 
specialists. And in the home, where the RCA Service 
Company technician spends most of his working hours, 
his activity is inevitably expanded beyond repairing and 
installing RCA Victor instruments. 

For instance, a branch manager recently received in 
the mail the keys to the home of a customer of many 
years standing. An accompanying note asked that the 
air conditioner be serviced while the family was on 
vacation. Also enclosed was a diagram of the house 
indicating the location of all plants, with the request 
that, if it wouldn't be too much trouble, the service man 
water them while he was there. Note: The request was 
cheerfully granted. 

Aleets Unusual Situations 

This is a mild example of the many unusual circum- 
stances with which the RCA technician may be con- 
fronted. There have been instances when, but for his 
quick thinking, catastrophe might have resulted. 

Not long ago, an RCA technician was installing an 
antenna in a New York suburb when a heavy rainstorm 
hit the area. After the storm had subsided, the technician 
returned to the job, but he noticed that the flat roof of 
the adjoining building was flooded with more than 18 
inches of water. 

Knowing that water enclosed on a flat roof can 
sometimes cause the roof to collapse, the technician 
crossed over and drilled holes in the necessary places so 
that the water could drain off. The building was a store, 
and the crowd of people inside remained unaware that 
a possible major tragedy had been averted. When the 
technician and the store manager inspected the premises 
soon afterward, they found that several beams had 
cracked and pulled away from the side of the building. 




A basic task for the RCA service man — adjusting a 
newly-installed TV set in the home. 



In a matter of minutes, the roof would have caved in, 
with tragic results. 

An appreciative letter on file tells of two RCA 
Service Company technicians who, on Christmas Eve, 
worked until after 9 p.m. erecting an antenna, so that 
Santa Claus could get due credit for a new TV set. The 
grateful customer added, "Working on a cold night, 
missing a Christmas party, and being pleasant about it 
is almost unbelievable. . . . ' 

The high caliber of the Service Company representa- 
tives is not "almost unbelievable" when their training 
and qualifications are considered. Each technician is 
required to have above average technical b.ickground. 
either in the form of technical education or practical 
experience, or both, in order to qualify for the job. 
After joining the Service Company he must complete 



RAD;0 age 29 




Installation of mobile two-way radio systems is an 
important RCA Service Company job. 

Home Study Courses that last 42 months while he serves 
as an apprentice technician. 

In addition to this, a Training Coordinator in each 
of the eleven districts supervises continuous training of 
all representatives to keep them abreast of latest develop- 
ments and techniques in service work. Many technicians 
supplement their knowledge by taking advantage of a 
company-sponsored tuition loan refund plan that enables 
them to take approved correspondence courses or attend 
local schools and colleges. 

An indication that the public has faith in these 
superior standards is manifest in the hundreds of thou- 
sands of RCA Victor television owners who buy the 
RCA technician's services on a yearly contract basis 
through the RCA Victor Factory Service Contract. 

History of Service Company 

The RCA Service Company, Inc., is RCAs own 
service organization. From its beginning as an RCA 
Victor Service Division installing and maintaining 



Photophone equipment, the RCA Service Company ex- 
panded with the advent of television and was formally 
organized as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Radio 
Corporation of America in 1942, with headquarters in 
Camden, N. J. 

The first RCA Service Company branch was opened 
in 1945 in Long Island City, N. Y. Today, Service Com- 
pany specialists operate in every state in the Union and 
in 34 overseas locations. Within the Service Company 
there are several divisions other than the Consumer 
Products Service Division which have as their special 
tasks installing and servicing such diversified equipment 
as radio and television broadcast, mobile communications, 
theatre sound and projection, industrial electronic and 
many types of military electronic equipment. 

In the field of mobile and microwave communica- 
tions, the RCA technician is on the job for pipeline 
companies, transport and taxi companies, and industrial 
firms throughout the nation, maintaining the equipment 
that make rapid economical radio communications pos- 
sible. 

New Plans Inaugurated 

The Service Company is frequently inaugurating new 
plans designed to improve its already high standards. 
Sales programs, with special emphasis on the role of 
technician, a modernized fleet of service trucks, worth- 
while incentive programs for branch management and 
technicians are such recent innovations. 

In view of their training, background, and scope of 
activities, it is not surprising that the engineers and 
technicians who comprise the Service Company have 
made outstanding contributions to the television indus- 
try. In the area of UHF, for example, RCA Service 
Company technicians and engineers aided in the devel- 
opment of several UHF antennas and other installation 
accessories now in use. Their contributions in field 
testing activities paved the way for successful UHF 
broadcasting. 

These men played a major part in the introduction 
of color television to the American public, setting up 
and conducting demonstrations from coast to coast. 
Participation in the early phases of color development 
and field tests prepared the RCA Service Company tech- 
nician for his later role as instructor among other field 
groups and for conducting color TV service clinics 
throughout the country. 

The Radio Corporation of America is proud of the 
manifold achievements of the RCA Service Company 
technician who is seen daily on the streets and roads of 
innumerable towns, driving the familiar truck of the 
RCA Service Company. To vast numbers of potential 
and actual RCA Victor customers, he is "Mr. RCA." 



30 RADIO AGE 



®mts[ 




Cosmopolite 

J. Fred Muggs, who, via television, 
has become something of a legend in 
the past year, made a triumphal entry 
on the Today set in August, five 
weeks after leaving New York on a 
trip around the world. The famous 
chimpanzee, during his global trek, 
danced for the customers in a Beirut 
night club, rode a camel in Cairo, made 
an appearance on Nippon TV, and 
frolicked among the pineapples in 
Honolulu. The trip wasn't solely with- 
out hitches, however. Muggs caused 
the Middle East Airlines people some 
confusion when they found he was 
listed neither as cargo nor passenger. 
One of his NBC travelling companions 
resolved the difficulty by buying him 
an infant's ticket. Then, too, in Hong 
Kong, Muggs and his party forgot to 
tell their police escort that they were 
going out shopping one day. Getting 
to the store presented no problem, but 
after word of Muggs' whereabouts 
spread throughout the city, it took a 
riot squad to get them out. All in all, 
Muggs' good-will tour was highly suc- 
cessful and gives him the distinction 
of being the most cosmopolitan simian 
in the world. 

Eyes Front 

A new invention, undetectable to 
TV viewers, permitting a performer 
to be prompted and still look straight 
into the camera lens, has been success- 
fully demonstrated by WNBT on a 
closed circuit. The prompting attach- 
ment, called the "Gerard Eyeline Mon- 



itor," is attached in front of the lens 
of either a live or a motion picture 
camera. In addition to allowing the 
performer to look directly into the 
eyes of his audience, a further advan- 
tage of the "Eyeline Monitor" is that 
the sets of lenses on the live television 
camera can be used at any position de- 
sired, not tying up one by making it 
necessary to keep a particular lens in 




Hospital TV 

More and more of the nation's hos- 
pitals are installing television receivers 
in patients' rooms to help make hours 
and days of recuperation pass more 
rapidly and enjoyably. One of the 
latest and most modern installations 
has been completed in private and 
semi-private rooms and solariums at 
the Albany Hospital, Albany, New 
York. A total of 225 RCA Victor re- 
ceivers, all of them with 17-inch or 
larger screens, now are in use there. 
Special glasses, with prismatic lenses, 
make it possible for patients wh'^ 
must not move from a prone or supine 
position to see the screen. Each re 
ceiver is equipped with a small, flat 
speaker for sound reception which i": 
placed under a patient's pillow. A 
remote control switch permits patienf; 
to turn the sets on or off from the bed 

Royal Tour 

"The Royal Tour of Queen Eliza- 
beth," the film documentary of the tour 
of Queen Elizabeth 11 and the Duke 



of Edinburgh, marks the first Cinema- 
Scope film made and processed outside 
the United States with full Stereo- 
phonic Sound on four magnetic tracks. 
The Sterophonic Recording was done 
by RCA Photophone Limited, RCA 
associate company in England, at the 
Tower Studio in Hammersmith, Lon- 
don, for the producer, British Movie- 
tone News. The picture was released 
by 20th Century Fox. 

Home T lineup 

A consumer-aimed promotion cam- 
paign designed to help television serv- 
ice dealers alert owners of home TV 
receivers to the benefits of periodic 
"tuneups" has been initiated by the 
RCA Tube Division. The campaign is 
utilizing national radio and television 
advertising, point-of-service advertis- 
ing and display material, and direct- 
mail literature to spotlight a Fall TV 
Tuneup Special to be offered by thou- 
sands of service dealers from coast to 
coast. 




Choice of the Voice 

The Voice of America has selected 
"Princeton '54," WNBT's educational 
television series presented last Spring 
in cooperation with Princeton Uni- 
versity, for telecast to nations through- 
out the world. The nine half-hour 
television programs represent the re- 
sults of discussions and studies extend- 
ing over a period of 18 months on the 
part of Princeton and WNBT. The 
programs explored the techniques and 
methods by which the resources of a 
university such as Princeton could best 
be made available to television. The 
reries which dealt with the arts and 
sciences, was a result of a grant made 
to Princeton by WNBT in the fall of 
1952. 



RADIO AGE 37 



Asp 



eccs of Broadcasciiig 



(Continued fro??i page 7) 
side" an equal opportunity to answer daily? 

If the right to editorialize is not confined to the 
interest of the network itself or the interests of the 
radio art and industry, in which the network or its owner 
also has an interest, but is extended to other public or 
political questions — that is, it the network is to have 
the same right as the newspaper has to editorialize — 
it follows that it must have the same political rights 
Thus a network could be a Republican network or a 
Democratic network, or the network of some othei 
legally recognized political faith. It so happens that now 
there are only four TV networks, and it is conceivable 
that all four networks could become Republican, or all 
four might become Democratic networks. Surely this 
cannot be anyone's intention, for such a condition would 
be highly undesirable. 

Impractical Solution 

Therefore, if one takes the position that a network 
should editorialize as freely as a newspaper, he might 
also do it as frequently. Thus, there may be a daily 
network editorial as well as a daily newspaper editorial. 
Well, if a network broadcasts one editorial a day 
on some important subject, is it going to give the 
other side or sides an opportunity, every day, to answer 
that editorial in the same time? That would seem to me 
to be impractical for many reasons. 

And if it does not furnish such equal opportunity to 
reply, the network might fail to meet the requirements 
of the Federal Communications Commission. 

Because of the complex and serious nature of this 
problem, I think that while Dr. Stanton picked the right 
issue in demanding that radio and television be accorded 
the same rights as the press to broadcast the McCarthy 
hearings or any other public hearings, I regret exceed- 
ingly that he has confused a specific case with a general 
principle, by adding the word "editorial" on the TV 
screen. Whether a network should or should not 
editorialize, raises a fundamental question that calls for 
the most careful study and consideration. 

I am not saying that networks should not have the 
right to do it. I think they should have that right. 
Whether they should exercise that right — and undei 
which circumstances — calls for clearer definition than 
Dr. Stanton has given in the statement which he made 
on the air. 

As I have said, I am in agreement with him as far 
as concerns the immediate case of the right of radio and 
television to report on, and to broadcast the hearings 
now going on in Washington. 

So far as the National Broidcasting Company's net- 
work is concerned, we have not engaged in editorial- 



izing; not since we have been in the broadcasting busi- 
ness. And we are not ready to abandon our policy. Of 
course, we shall watch the new developments as they 
go along and study the reactions they produce. 

Government Licensing of Networks 

As you know, the question of government licensmg 
of networks has recently been raised in Washington. 1 
am certainly not in favor of requiring networks to be 
licensed because I do not regard network operations — 
as distinguished from individual broadcasting stations 
• — a business that should be licensed or regulated by the 
Government. But the licensing question may be viewed 
differently when the problem of general editorializing 
by a network is considered. It raises the question of 
licensing networks in an atmosphere that changed when 
the word "editorial " was flashed on the TV screen by 
CBS. 

I recognize the distinction between a network and 
a broadcasting station. Insofar as individual stations are 
concerned, I believe they should have not only the right 
to editorialize, but that they might well exercise that 
right in their local communities. 

The circumstances surrounding stations are certainly 
different from those surrounding networks. For ex- 
ample, in New York City there are more radio and 
television stations than there are newspapers. I can 
visualize an independent station being frankly partisan, 
just as there are newspapers that are frankly partisan. 
But, when it comes to the network imposing its editorial 
views on a public or controversial question upon its 
afl^liated stations, it is quitfe a different matter. It is not 
a sufficient answer for a network to say that a station 
could reject that editorial if it did not share the net- 
work's opinion and views. There are practical limita- 
tions of program scheduling, etc., which must be taken 
into account by stations as well as by networks. 



Change in NBC Call Letters 

The call letters of three of the National Broad- 
casting Company's company-owned stations will be 
changed at midnight, Sunday, October 17. The 
changes affect NBC's radio and television stations 
in New York, and its TV stations in Los Angeles 
and Washington, D. C. 

The NBC New York stations, which are cur- 
rently WNBC, WNBC-FM, and WNBT, will 
become WRCA, WRCA-FM, and WRCA-TV. 
The company's Los Angeles television station will 
become KRCA instead of KNBH, while the 
Washington NBC television station, now WNBW. 
will become WRC-TV. 



32 RADIO AGE 




Emblem ...of Engineering Opportunity. . . 



and Professional Progress 



DEVELOPMENT • DESIGN • SYSTEMS ENGINEERING 



Consider RCA's engineering opportunities listed below'. ^^ 
For professional association in the field of your choice, write: ^^ 



John R. Weld, Employment Manager 
Dept. 31 5J, Radio Corporation of America 
30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York 20, N.Y. 

I Antenna Syster 



Conditioners • Altimeters • Ampule Inspection • Analog Computers • Antenaple- ,... 

Broadcast (AM and FM) • Calibration Equipment • Camera Tubes • Cathode Roy Tubes • Color a 

Equipment • Counter Measures • Ci 
itronic Components • Engineering 



Inspect! 

Cameras, Receivers, Studio Equip 

Digital Computers • Direction Finders • Early Warning • Electron Microscopes • , -.;, 

Apparatus • Field Services • Gas Tubes • High Fidelity • Industrial Products • Information Disploys • Inter-Comm Eq 
Tubes • Loran • Microphones • Microwave • Microwave Tubes • Missile Guidance • Mobile Communications • 

• Phonograph Records • Photo Tubes • Power Tubes • Public Address Systems • Radar • Radio Receivers • Recei' 
Tubes • Semi-Conductors • Servo-Mechanisms • Shoron • Sonar • Sound Film Projectors • Sound Powered Phones 

• Storage Tubes • Tope Recorders • Teletypewriter • Test Equipment • Theater Equipment • Theater Television 
Parts • "Viclrola" Phonographf 



n Radio 


• Bev 


erage 


nd Mono 


chror 


ne TV 


stom Re 


cord 


ngs • 


Services 


• Fac 


simile 


jipment • 


Kine 


scope 


Oscillog 


aph 


Tubes 


ingTube 


s • Rectifier 


•Special 


App 


□ratus 


» Transistors • 


Tube 



RCA's Low-Cost TV Ege for 
on-the-spot production control 




Tiny TV Eye camera fitb almost 
anywhere . . . supplies a con- 
tinuous production report to 
any office in your plant. 



For new flexibility, for closer liai- 
son between administration and pro- 
duction . . . check industry's new tool 
for supervision . . . low-cost TV Eye. 

RCA's new TV Eye is today's an- 
swer to production pile-ups, to split- 
second planning for assembly-line 
emergencies. At this new, low price, 
you can use TV Eye throughout your 
plant— wherever an operation is too 
remote, too dangerous, too tiring for 
a man to watch. 



Standard TV Receiver, on 

production manager's desk, 
or any other key location, 
gives clear, detailed picture 
of your operation. 



Compact tv eye consists of a small 
camera that weighs less than five 
pounds and fits almost anywhere — 
and a small control unit, no bigger 
than a table radio. These two units 
connect by cable into any standard 
TV receiver — operate from standard 
115-volt, a-c outlet. 

Check tv eye at your local RCA 
Electronics Distributor's, or write 
Radio Corporation of America, Dept. 
E48, Bldg. 15-1, Camden, N. J. 




RADIO CORPORATION of AMERICA 




i^^t^^